Liverpool may be fleeing with the title of the Premier League, but that does not mean that there is no fascinating elaboration of the race. The race for the places of the Champions League has a potential for a high drama and could see that both Manchester City and Chelsea are lost with the third to the tenth in the league separated by only six points with 11 remaining games in the season. There is a good possibility that England ends up sending the next five to the Champions League next season due to UEFA coefficients, but even with that is the case, Chelsea and City are hanging by a thread with teams like Bournemouth waiting for it to crash to block the party.
So who could end in the top five when everything is said and done?
Current Top 10 of the Premier League
| Straw | Equipment | GP | W | D | L | File | Georgia | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Liverpool | 28 | 20 | 7 | 1 | 66 | 26 | +40 | 67 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 27 | 15 | 9 | 3 | 51 | 23 | +28 | 54 |
| 3 | Nottingham forest | 27 | 14 | 6 | 7 | 44 | 33 | +11 | 48 |
| 4 | Manchester City | 27 | 14 | 5 | 8 | 53 | 37 | +16 | 47 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 27 | 13 | 7 | 7 | 52 | 36 | +16 | 46 |
| 6 | Newcastle United | 27 | 13 | 5 | 9 | 46 | 38 | +8 | 44 |
| 7 | Bournemouth | 27 | 12 | 7 | 8 | 45 | 32 | +13 | 43 |
| 8 | Brighton and Hove Albion | 27 | 11 | 10 | 6 | 44 | 39 | +5 | 43 |
| 9 | Fulham | 27 | 11 | 9 | 7 | 40 | 36 | +4 | 42 |
| 10 | Aston Villa | 28 | 11 | 9 | 8 | 40 | 45 | -5 | 42 |
Looking at the probabilities of current bets for the first five, Arsenal, Manchester City, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest are the favorites to join Liverpool, and, but the gap between Chelsea and Bournemouth suggests that many beaters could occur before the season arrives.
Unlikely but it is possible
Aston Villa, Fulham, Brighton
The rotation to keep up at the Champions League has seen Aston Villa slide down in the Premier League, but with one foot in the last eight of that tournament, Unai Emery will not look too much. There is the possibility that Villa is completely lost in European football next season, but with most of its intact plants, it could also provide the opportunity to quickly recover in Europe with a deeper team and more experience.
Fulham and Brighton are the teams that are happy to be in the race, but they don’t seem to do so unless they warm up at the right time.
Being at a surprising distance when other teams have multiple competitions will provide an opportunity, which is all that teams that are pressing for the upper half can request at this stage of the season.
The case of cherries
Bournemouth are fascinating and if there is a team that could crash the European game, they are the cherries of Andorni Iraola. Losing its two best strikers in Evanilson and Enes Unal, Bournemouth opted for Dango Ouattara to direct the line and has worked with a great effect. Having the best goals of any team that is not in the top five and a schedule that sees them only face a team currently among the first five before the end of the season, Bournemouth almost has control of their own European destination despite sitting seventh at the current table.
His defense has stabilized and under Iraola, they know what they want to do, which contributes largely at times like this. It will still be a uphill battle, but Bournemouth can do it.
Is this the time of Eddie Howe?
Newcastle United is in a fairly strange place. On the one hand, they are in the final of the EFL Carabo Cup, where they can end a long trophy drought, although they will have to do it facing Liverpool without Anthony Gordon and Lewis Hall, so it will be a battle uphill in Wembley. However, even if Newcastle won that game, they could end eighth, a situation very similar to Manchester United last season. The Red Devils kept Erik Ten Hag following that and we all know how that was …
It does not mean that Newcastle is in an identical position, but there may not be a team that needs a final among the top five to validate its path than the Uraracas. Effective and need to make movements due to gains and sustainability rules and with the equipment around Alexander Isak, this looks like a inflection point for Newcastle. They have been building something, but without European football to show it, there is a limit of what the club can do and the level of players that can attract. Without that, there is the possibility that a change can be in order despite Howe’s best efforts.
Chelsea, city or forest, who is lost?
The story is not on the side of Nottingham Forest when it comes to unexpected teams that break the party, but they have found a way of enduring despite facing Arsenal and Newcastle United. Facing Manchester City this weekend is massive, since a victory would almost ensure that Forest can take his place in the places of the Champions League. Even if they do not win, the next schedule has Aston Villa and a last day of host of Chelsea, which could be critical to determine the final classification.
Even with the poor season of City to date, it is difficult to say that they will not end in the top four because they have too much fire power when they are healthy. That is not the case of Chelsea, which has a brutal schedule faced by Arsenal, Liverpool, Newcastle and Forest before the end of the season. Only a point of fall could be sufficient to get lost in the first places and the Enzo Maresca team has not been playing as one of the first four or five for a while. He experienced a similar fall in the rear half of the Leicester City promotion campaign in the championship last season and if that happens again, Chelsea could be the strange team.
Who does it?
Liverpool, Arsenal, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth
If I wrote this at the beginning of the season, it would be the most extravagant prediction in history and, although it still feels strange, I like what I have seen in Bournemouth and the Low Black Knight Football Club configuration is moving the cherries in the right direction. Some of the regular teams will be there, but the Champions League could be obtaining some unknown English teams.
