With the title already decided and in the hands of Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and two of the three relegation places taken now, it’s the European places and the last relegation place that are the main focus in the Premier League weekend.
Before looking at the key fixtures here is how the European places are decided:
The top four teams in the league will go on to participate in next season UEFA Champions League. Clubs who finish in the top three will automatically go into the draw for the Champions League group stage. The team finishing fourth will enter at the play off stage and will only enter the group stage if they win the play off game against a team from another European country.
Three further European places are given, the team that finishes fifth, the FA Cup winners and the Carling Cup winners will be given a place in the UEFA Europa League. However, if the FA Cup winners finish in the top five of the Premier League, their Europa League group stage place goes to the sixth-placed team.
With the Capital One Cup winners, Chelsea, now guaranteed a top-five finish, their Europa League third qualifying round place goes to the next-highest ranked team in the Premier League, the sixth-placed team.
In the event of the FA Cup winner’s spot going to the sixth-placed team, the Capital One Cup winners’ place in the Europa League goes to the team finishing seventh.
At present there are currently three teams battling it out for the 2nd, 3rd and 4th positions (remember 4th place will have to qualify for the Champions league via a play off). Manchester City (2nd with 73 points after 36 games), Arsenal (3rd with 70 points after 35 games) and Manchester United (4th with 68 points after 36 games) are the teams in these positions.
With the possibility that Arsenal could win the FA Cup, three Europa League places could be up for grabs. Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Southampton and Swansea City all have a shot, although some have a better chance than others. Liverpool are in fifth place with 62 points, Tottenham are in sixth with 58 points, Southampton in seventh with 57 points and Swansea in eighth on 56 points. All four teams have played 36 games.
At the other end of the table it’s slightly more straight forward with Burnley and QPR already relegated, one place is all that’s left to be filled. Hull City, Newcastle, Sunderland, Leicester and Aston Villa are the teams desperate for points. All the teams have played 36 games apart from Sunderland who have played 35 games, their game in hand being away at Arsenal on May 20th, four days before the last game of the season is played.
Currently Aston Villa are on 38 points followed by Leicester City on 37, Sunderland and Newcastle who have 36 points and finally Hull on 34 points.
Here are the key fixtures in the penultimate weekend:
Manchester City visit Swansea City, the conquerors of Arsenal on Monday night. This will therefore be no easy game for City as Swansea themselves are in with a shout of claiming a Europa League place.
Third place Arsenal head to Old Trafford on Sunday to take on fourth placed Manchester United. This is a game that Manchester United must win if they are to keep their chances alive of qualifying automatically for the Champions League. This is also game that Arsenal dare not lose, as even with a game in hand a United victory would put United one point ahead and would pile on the pressure going into the midweek game against relegation threatened Sunderland.
Liverpool, after last Sundays draw at Chelsea dashed all hopes of a Champions league place, face Crystal Palace at home knowing a victory will guarantee them a European place. Liverpool succumbed to pressure against Palace last season, will the same happen again?
Tottenham play a Hull City team currently third bottom and desperate for points at home. An easy game for Tottenham fans should not be expected. However anyone who watched the Manchester City vs QPR game may argue differently.
Southampton face Aston Villa at home, Villa are not safe from relegation yet and could prove a difficult test. Whatever happens Southampton have had an excellent season.
Newcastle United travel to already relegated QPR, but with Newcastle low on confidence and QPR with nothing to lose this is by no means an easy game for Newcastle.
The big game at the bottom pits Sunderland against Leicester City. A win for either could see them safe come the final whistle. However with Sunderland having a game in hand it isn’t over for them if they fail to win. On the other hand that game in hand is as I mentioned previously against Arsenal, away.
Many positions could be finalised after this week ends games, history states however that many twists and turns will be coming our way until the very last ball has been kicked.
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