London, May 22: The race to see who will qualify for Europe takes centre stage in the Premier League last round on Sunday as Liverpool, Chelsea and Leicester City compete for the last two places in next season’s UEFA Champions League.
Meanwhile, West Ham, Tottenham and Everton are fighting for a place in next season’s Europa League and Arsenal have an outside chance of finishing seventh and reaching the new Conference League, reports Xinhua.
Chelsea’s win at home to Leicester City on Tuesday put them in the driving season to finish in the top four, and a win away to Aston Villa will assure their place in the Champions League no matter what happens in next weekend’s final against Premier League champions Manchester City.
Liverpool’s 3-0 win away to Burnley took them above Leicester into fourth place on goal average and means they have taken 23 points from the last 27. There will be 10,000 fans in Anfield to see them entertain Crystal Palace (who they beat 7-0 five months ago) and another win would almost certainly guarantee fourth place.
In theory, Leicester could claim the fourth spot even if Liverpool win, but the reality is they would need to beat Sunday’s rivals Tottenham by four more goals than Liverpool beat Palace to overturn an inferior goal difference.
Tottenham also have plenty at stake and they have to win away to Leicester and hope sixth-place West Ham lose their home game to Southampton in order to secure a place in next season’s Europa League.
West Ham can’t finish fifth, but a point against a rival whose season has faded badly would assure a return to Europe after an impressive season under David Moyes.
Everton also have a slight chance of finishing sixth, but it would take an unlikely series of results for that to happens, with them winning away to Manchester City while both Tottenham and West Ham lose.
Manchester City reclaimed the title after losing it in the 2019-20 season to Liverpool coached by Jürgen Klopp. (IANS)
