Liverpool against Bournemouth in an historic Premier League playoff. So you're saying... there's a chance?
It's remote, sure -- but there are still permutations heading into the 38th and final game of the season that could force the Premier League into staging a first-ever Game 39 to decide what is currently the final Champions League place.
One extraordinary combination of results on Sunday would leave the two clubs level on points, goal difference, goals scored, head-to-head record and away goals in those meetings -- with league rules then requiring a one-off playoff at a neutral venue.
For Liverpool, it would mean extending a disappointing title defence by one more game. For Bournemouth, it could offer the chance to cap a remarkable season with a winner-takes-all shot at Europe's top competition.
Here's how it could happen.
Liverpool could face Bournemouth in a 39th-game playoff. Getty Explained: How Liverpool could face Bournemouth in playoff Erling Haaland's late leveller for Manchester City on Tuesday didn't stop Arsenal from clinching the title, but it did ensure Liverpool head into the final day three points clear of Bournemouth in the race for fifth.
Liverpool therefore host Brentford at Anfield knowing a point guarantees a top-five finish and Champions League qualification.
Bournemouth, meanwhile, travel to Nottingham Forest needing a victory, a Liverpool defeat, and a significant swing in goal difference to have any chance of climbing above them -- with total parity and a playoff also a mathematical possibility.
The Premier League's tiebreakers are, in order: goal difference, then goals scored, then head-to-head record, then away goals scored in head-to-head meetings.
Liverpool currently hold a +6 goal difference advantage over Bournemouth.
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That means Bournemouth would need to finish level on goal difference and goals scored to force total parity -- which effectively requires them to score exactly five more goals than Liverpool on the final day.
So if Bournemouth win 5-0 and Liverpool lose 1-0, or Bournemouth win 6-1 and Liverpool lose 2-1, the numbers would line up perfectly: same points, same goal difference, same goals scored.
At that point, the Premier League's tiebreakers would still fail to separate them.