Fans have fingers crossed over Ireland

MANCHESTER City head into Sunday’s final Premier League fixture against Bolton at Eastlands with the future of two of their brightest young stars in doubt.

Neither Stephen Ireland, the fans’ player of the year, nor Daniel Sturridge, the top young player, have signed new contracts.

Midfield man Ireland has been one of the stand-out figures in a City campaign scarred by inconsistency, but admits he is still some way from agreeing a new deal.

After being overlooked in favour of Ashley Young for the PFA young-player prize, Ireland has gained some consolation by ending Richard Dunne’s four-year hold on the fans’ trophy.

Ireland, who is City’s second top scorer with 13 goals, was the overwhelming choice of City supporters, beating Vincent Kompany into second place.

Pablo Zabaleta was third, with Brazilians Robinho and Elano failing to feature in the poll.

City fans will be worried that Sunday’s match might be the last for Ireland, who could move on if a new contract cannot be agreed.

Teenage striker Sturridge, who has had an injury-plagued campaign, is in a similar position.

Sunday’s game is a meaningless end-of-season fixture involving teams with nothing to play for.

After battling to avoid relegation for much of the campaign, Bolton are finally safe from the threat of being demoted.

City’s hopes of claiming the final place in next season’s Europa League ended last Saturday with a 2-1 defeat at Tottenham.

Fulham and Spurs, who are seventh and eighth respectively, face a last-day battle for European qualification.



Two from five to go down on final day

::Sunderland will stay up if they beat Chelsea.

::Hull will stay up if they beat Manchester United.

::Newcastle will stay up if they do better at Aston Villa than Hull do against United or they win and Sunderland lose or draw.

::Sunderland will be relegated if they fail to win, assuming Hull and Newcastle both win.

::Middlesbrough will only stay up if they win at West Ham and Newcastle and Hull lose with a goal turnaround of at least five.