The race in the top four of the Premier League is now hotter than hell



[ad_1]

Photo: Julian Finney (Getty)

If the last two years have been the golden age of the Premier League, thanks to the development of the quality of the league from top to bottom and to a powerful Big Six, making this league the only national league that all football fans must follow, this season may well be the golden year of this golden age. Throughout the season, we have followed with special attention the title race between Manchester City and Liverpool, legitimately two of the best Premier League clubs of all time. And after a few weeks of fortuitous results, solidified by the round of this weekend, it is now clear that the race for the seats of the Champions League is perhaps even more difficult than the race for the title.

Since the EPL Big Six have actually emerged, they have formed a solid group of big teams (and Manchester United) expected to qualify for the Champions League each year. This event will mark the summer of 2016, when Pep Guardiola, Antonio Conte, Jose Mourinho and Jürgen Klopp all started their first full campaign in their respective EPL clubs – we did not see the combination of the title and the first four races as competitive as the one we are currently experiencing. A single point separates Man City from Liverpool at the head of the table. Although there is a big gap between them and the rest of the Champions League qualifier hopes, there is almost nothing between the other four Big Six members in their efforts to ensure themselves one. of the remaining two places in the first four.

Here's how things are happening today in the standings: Tottenham is third with 61 points, Arsenal is fourth with 60 points, Manchester United with a place behind the Gunners with 58 points and Chelsea is sixth with 57 points – although Chelsea played one less match than the others. It's just four points that separate the glory and riches of third place and the place it occupies in the Europa League Champions League. Because of the proximity of the race and the almost imperceptible margins that separate the teams in terms of quality, the rest of the season is organized to be played as a ridiculously intense and high-stakes game, with four competitors , two chairs and a fierce fight not to stay up.

While the top four places are tighter than ever this season, the way each team came here could hardly be more different. Arsenal was the big winner last weekend. His journey to the top four places was the most discreet of all. The Gunners were allowed to go under the radar for most of the season – probably due to the absence of Arsene Wenger and the angry outbursts that made hysteria cheer the presence of the Frenchman almost synonymous with club during his reign – but that changed everything Sunday when Arsenal beat United to finish fourth.

Before this weekend, United was one of the most fit teams in England, or even around the world. The new role of the new manager, Ole Gunnar Solskjær, reached its peak a few days earlier, when the Red Devils dropped PSG and brought the French out of the Champions League in a surprising and humiliating way. This performance was part of United's biggest upward trajectory, taking long shots to get back into the race for the top four to get into the middle of the race. . Sunday's performance against Arsenal, however, was a decided departure from the previous excellence.

For United, the 2-0 loss to Arsenal was painful, but the PSG record that probably contributed to Sunday's poor performance had to ease the pain. For Arsenal, however, the victory was huge. By sealing the three points, thanks to a devilish shot by Granit Xhaka and a rather poor but good penalty from Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, the Gunners jumped on United to grab a spot in the four first. After two depressing seasons out of the Champions League places, finding themselves even temporarily in the table position once considered theirs by the birthright, and after defeating a direct rival for the top quadrant of the table, had to feel like a release and a reason to focus to finish the job to make sure they finish the season up there.

It's normal that a weekend that broke out so well for Arsenal was so bad for Tottenham. On Saturday, Tottenham, a team that just a few weeks ago could reasonably consider themselves title contenders, jumped ahead and ended up taking an L of pennants from relegation, Southampton.

Tottenham dropped out of the title race and entered the group trying to consolidate one of the other two spots behind City and Liverpool in a terrible month when they only won one of their last five league games. The match this weekend against the Saints should have been happy because, with the return of Dele Alli on the field after more than a month of play with a buttocks hamstring, the club seems to have managed to get out on the other side of a terrible pass. injuries to some of their most important players. And though Alli and Harry Kane, who was recently healthy again, united for the first goal of the game, their combined strength was not enough to see Spurs beat one of the weakest teams in the division. The fall of the Spurs' grace has been precipitated and, unless they quickly recover their best potential, they could find themselves outside in no time.

Regarding the last remaining representative of the Big Six, this weekend was characterized by the same inequalities that we expected. Chelsea drew at home against Wolverhampton on Sunday, which is not a big deal on paper. Wolves are a good team that can legitimately scare any Big Six player for a weekend, as they are strong favorites to win the Best of the Rest trophy at the end of the season. However, the match once again revealed the attack problems of Chelsea, who scored only once on 22 shots.

Chelsea started the season well but soon fell into the kind of incoherence that defined their season. A few weeks ago, it looked like the club was about to dismiss coach Maurizio Sarri, a first-year coach, even before the season was over, after the reputed attacking engineering coach did not show up. managed to form a team capable of scoring, often completely isolated contributions from Eden Hazard. And just when it seemed that the Blues could have reversed the situation, they attracted the Wolves this weekend.

With their suddenly frugal owner, their imminent ban on transfer and the growing certainty that Hazard will take her talents to Spain in a few months, Chelsea may have the most to lose if she does not qualify for the Champions League. They are still fit – they won the match that they have in hand and they would be tied for points with Arsenal in fourth – for the second round, and Gonzalo Higuaín has seemed pretty decent since his loan to the club in January. So the results that Chelsea needs are still within reach. But if things do not improve quickly, they could really really wrong.

And that's where we are now in the top four with only two months in this spectacular season. As for the title, the fight for the Champions League places should last until the end. Imagine a world where we arrive at the last game of the season, where every member of the Big Six is ​​in the running for the title or a top four place. This could be a culmination with the potential to exceed even the famous "Agüeroooooooo!" Day, and it would be the end of this phenomenal season.

[ad_2]

Source link