There are just five rounds of matches left of the Premier League season, with Round 34 getting underway last night as Manchester City snatched a dramatic last gasp 2-1 win over Aston Villa at the Etihad.
This was a key game for both sides in the race for Europe, which will be the main focus as the league season enters the last few weeks. This weekend’s FA Cup semi finals will also be key in determining the makeup of the European places.
Here we look at what has already been decided and what is still all to play for, which teams are in the mix and what they need in the final few games.
Premier League Title Almost Won – Top Five Close
Tonight could be the night that Liverpool are crowned champions for the second time in the Premier League era, and 20th overall. That will happen if Crystal Palace beat Arsenal and the Emirates. Even if Arsenal win tonight, Liverpool will still be able to seal the title themselves on Sunday when they host Tottenham.
This season there are five spots for English clubs in the Champions League, after England was assured of finishing in the top two of UEFA’s coefficient rankings. Liverpool are assured of a Champions League place, while Arsenal have a healthy nine point lead over sixth placed Chelsea.
Realistically five teams- Manchester City, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle United, Chelsea and Aston Villa, are competing for the remaining three places. Just four points separate that group, although City and Villa have now crucially played one more game than the others.
England could end up having a sixth Champions League place. This would happen if Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur win this season’s Europa League. Both sides have reached the semi-finals.
FA Cup Helps Determine Champions League Spots
Europa League places go to the team finishing sixth in the Premier League and the FA Cup winners. If the FA Cup winners finish in the top six, that Europa League spot will pass to the league.
The FA Cup semi finals take place this weekend, with Crystal Palace facing Aston Villa on Saturday and Nottingham Forest and Manchester City going head to head on Sunday. As it stands, Palace are the only side of that quartet who would definitely need a cup win to qualify.
Newcastle United’s Carabao Cup win means that the worst case scenario for them is a place in the Conference League. Should the Magpies qualify for Europe through their league position, that Conference League spot will pass to the league.
Should Chelsea win this season’s Conference League and fail to finish inside the top six, which is still a possibility, then they would be given an additional spot in the Europa League.
Relegation All but Decided
Such has been the struggles of the bottom three sides in the Premier League this season that the relegation spots have almost been filled- and could be completely finalised as early as this weekend.
Southampton made unwanted history as they went down with seven games to go, the earliest in Premier League history, on 6 April when they were beaten by Tottenham Hotspur. Leicester City followed them on Easter Sunday after losing to champions-elect Liverpool.
Realistically Ipswich Town will join them, with the Tractor Boys 15 points adrift of West Ham United with five games left to play. Ipswich also have a goal difference deficit of 20 on the Hammers.
On Saturday, West Ham are at Brighton, while Ipswich travel to Newcastle. Should West Ham avoid defeat or Ipswich fail to win, that will confirm Ipswich joining Leicester and Southampton in making an immediate return to the Championship.