The Race For The Champions League
Five doesn’t go into three and two will miss out. It’s all to play for on the last day of the season.
Nottingham Forest v Chelsea
Manchester United v Aston Villa
Fulham v Manchester City
Newcastle United v Everton
Sunday 26th May - 16:00
Prediction
Preview
This is what it has all come down to. Five clubs fighting for three more spots in Europe’s elite club competition next season. People have talked about this season being dull with the title race being wrapped up with four games to go and the relegation battle also done around the same time but the competition for Europe has kept things interesting with many different scenarios still possible.
Manchester City look fairly nailed on at this point. With 68 points (3 clear of Forest in 7th) and a superior goal difference to all of the others, it looks like the form that they have managed to find in the league recently will be enough to salvage a top 5 spot. This isn’t much for a fan base so used to winning but at least it gives a base to move on again from. Despite his penalty miss in the FA Cup Final, Omar Marmoush has impressed since arriving in January and it has been refreshing to see youngsters like Rico Lewis and Nico O’Reilly make starting births their own. A point will be enough for them away to Fulham but they may not even need that dependent on other results.
Newcastle, Chelsea and Villa are all level on 66 points although the Birmingham team are significantly behind the other two in terms of goal difference (11 behind Chelsea and 13 behind Newcastle). Newcastle are in the best position of the three and have arguably the easier game with Everton perhaps already being in holiday mode after their send off to Goodison last week. Isak being a doubt will not help Newcastle’s cause but you would fancy that they may still find enough with the likes of Harvey Barnes, Anthony Gordon and Jacob Murphy in their side.
In any other season, a match away at Old Trafford would be one that Villa fans would be incredibly wary of. The way that things have gone this year though, you would definitely fancy them to win. Again, Villa have found some form at exactly the right time and although three points still does not guarantee their top five place, you would think that it may just be enough. However, with United losing in the Europa League final this week one of two things may happen. Either they will have spent all of their efforts and have no real interest in this game or they will want to put in a final performance to appease the fans somewhat and build towards next season. Villa will hope it’s the former.
Chelsea and Forest play each other at the City Ground in a match that will have huge implications for both of those teams and the others involved. Chelsea are a team that started the season very well and at one point looked like they may be in the championship race themselves. Ultimately, they couldn’t sustain this, but Enzo Maresca’s side have managed to be consistent enough to give themselves a chance. Even with talisman Cole Palmer being less effective in the latter half of the season, they have managed to scratch and claw their way to a position where it is in their own hands.
Standing in their way though are a Nottingham Forest side who will feel desperately unlucky if they miss out. European qualification in itself is a good achievement but they have spent the majority of the year camped inside the top 5 and it is only some recent poor form, possibly linked to the pressure of keeping up their lofty position, that has led to them being in the worst position of the five contenders. However, grit and determination are characteristics that they have displayed all year and if they can beat Chelsea here, they may just get lucky.
Verdict:
Forest v Chelsea - Could Go Either Way
Backing Newcastle
Backing City
Leaning Towards Villa
If we go by the results that our algorithm suggests then it seems that Man City and Newcastle will secure their positions that look the safest currently anyway, and Villa may just sneak into the fifth placed position. This is due to the fact that Forest and Chelsea may end up negating each other by playing out a draw.
Don’t sleep on Forest sneaking back in at 7/2 though. They will have a raucous crowd behind them and all it would take is one slip up elsewhere for them to get back in. Either way we should be in for a hell of a finish.
A few more stats ahead of the match…
Nottingham Forest
Tottenham 1-2 Forest
Goal scorers: Anderson, Wood
Assists: Dominguez, Elanga
Bookings: Sels, Toffolo, Gibbs-White, Yates
Forest 0-2 Brentford
Goal scorers: None
Assists: None
Bookings: Williams, Anderson, Gibbs-White
Crystal Palace 1-1 Forest
Goal scorers: Murillo
Assists: Williams
Bookings: Sels, Aina, Williams, Sangare, Dominguez, Gibbs-White, Morato, Yates
Forest 2-2 Leicester
Goal scorers: Gibbs-White, Wood
Assists: Elanga, Gibbs-White
Bookings: Aina, Morato, Anderson
West Ham 1-2 Forest
Goal scorers: Gibbs-White, Milenkovic
Assists: Elanga
Bookings: Murillo, Anderson, Morato
Chelsea
Fulham 1-2 Chelsea
Goal scorers: George, Neto
Assists: Fernandez
Bookings: Caicedo, Cucurella, Colwill
Chelsea 1-0 Everton
Goal scorers: Jackson
Assists: Fernandez
Bookings: None
Chelsea 3-1 Liverpool
Goal scorers: Fernandez, Quansah (og), Palmer
Assists: Neto, Caicedo
Bookings: Chalobah, Sancho
Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea
Goal scorers: None
Assists: None
Bookings: Colwill, Fernandez
Sending Off: Jackson
Chelsea 1-0 Man United
Goal scorers: Cucurella
Assists: James
Bookings: Palmer
Newcastle United
Aston Villa 4-1 Newcastle
Goal scorers: Schar
Assists: Barnes
Bookings: Schar, Guimaraes, Joelinton
Newcastle 3-0 Ipswich
Goal scorers: Isak, Burn, Osula
Assists: Trippier (2), Murphy
Bookings: Burn
Brighton 1-1 Newcastle
Goal scorers: Isak
Assists: None
Bookings: Willock
Newcastle 2-0 Chelsea
Goal scorers: Tonali, Guimaraes
Assists: Burn, Murphy
Bookings: Schar, Murphy, Guimaraes, Krafth
Arsenal 1-0 Newcastle
Goal scorers: None
Assists: None
Bookings: Burn, Krafth, Willock
Manchester City
Everton 0-2 Man City
Goal scorers: O’Reilly, Kovacic
Assists: Nunes, Gundogan
Bookings: None
Man City 2-1 Aston Villa
Goal scorers: Silva, Nunes
Assists: Doku
Bookings: Nunes, Gvardiol, Silva
Man City 1-0 Wolves
Goal scorers: De Bruyne
Assists: Doku
Bookings: None
Southampton 0-0 Man City
Goal scorers: None
Assists: None
Bookings: None
Man City 3-1 Bournemouth
Goal scorers: Marmoush, Silva, Gonzalez
Assists: Nunes, Gundogan, Kovacic
Bookings: Ederson
Sending Off: Kovacic
Aston Villa
Villa 4-1 Newcastle
Goal scorers: Watkins, Maatsen, Burn (og), Onana
Assists: Rogers, Tielemans, Watkins
Bookings: Ramsey
Man City 2-1 Villa
Goal scorers: Rashford
Assists: Ramsey
Bookings: Digne, Rogers, Watkins
Villa 1-0 Fulham
Goal scorers: Tielemans
Assists: McGinn
Bookings: None
Bournemouth 0-1 Villa
Goal scorers: Watkins
Assists: Rogers
Bookings: Martinez, Konsa, Asensio
Sending Off: Ramsey
Villa 2-0 Spurs
Goal scorers: Konsa, Kamara
Assists: Rogers, Watkins
Bookings: Cash
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