Here is a quick glance at the remaining Premier League fixtures for the top four this season:
| Man. Utd. | Chelsea | Arsenal | Liverpool | |
| 17-19 Apr | Blackburn (a) | Everton (a) | Reading (h) | Fulham (a) |
| 26-28 Apr | Chelsea (a) | Man. Utd. (h) | Derby (a) | Birmingham (a) |
| 3-5 May | West Ham (h) | Newcastle (a) | Everton (h) | Man. City (h) |
| 11 May | Wigan (a) | Bolton (h) | Sunderland (a) | Tottenham (a) |
League leaders MU have Blackburn, Chelsea, West Ham, and Wigan for their remaning games. Both West Ham and Blackburn have nothing to play for; neither can significantly improve their league positions nor gain spots for European cup competition so they don't have enough incentive to be really up for it against the big boys. Only Wigan have the need to avoid relegation so they may fight hard. My guess is MU have the superior firepower and tremendous strength in depth and the necessary drive to get 3 wins and a draw to take the league title.
Chelsea have Everton, MU, Newcastle, and Bolton in their end-of-season fixtures. Everton are still fighting hard for 4th place. They also need to maintain their distance from the high-mid-table pack who are nipping at their heels for the UEFA cup spot so this will be a tough game for Chelsea. Newcastle are fairly safe from the drop so it could be an easier one but Bolton will still have to fight hard to avoid relegation. I am guessing 2 wins and 2 draws for Chelsea.
Arsenal face Reading, Derby, Everton, and Sunderland. Both Reading and Sunderland must battle to avoid the drop zone while Derby are already done for the season. Everton are always tough to play. If Arsenal are not careful, they may end up with 4 draws which will take them down to the 4th spot which is not much different from third but it is another psychological blow because of the long capitulation since February. They must win at least one game in the remaining four to have any chance of retaining 3rd place.
Liverpool play Fulham, Birmingham, Man City, and Tottenham to close out this season. Fulham and Birmingham will give them a fight but Man City and the Spurs can afford to coast. So I predict at the minimum, Liverpool will get 2 wins and 2 draws from these games which should secure 4th spot and next year's Champions League place.
For Arsenal, taking second place in the league has its allure: not having to play the third qualifying round of next year's CL campaign (especailly if the tie has to be played in some exotic Eastern European location). If that is an objective, Arsene still has a job to do to raise the morale of the team and get them to try to overtake Chelsea, seeing that the Chelsea-MU game may be an excellent opportunity to gain on the West Londoners.
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8 deflections:
Good piece- thanks for laying it out plainly. If Liverpool wins away to Fulham and Everton lose (they play this Thursday), we'll be on 70 points with Everton on 61, with a vastly superior goal difference and nine points on offer for the remainder of the season. 4th place could be wrapped up by Saturday.
If Everton win, it could go on like a Democratic Primary. Nobody wants that.
Everton have Chelsea, Aston Villa, Arsenal, and Newcastle which I think is a lot tougher than Liverpool's fixture list. Of course, the small matter of the CL semi-final tie against Chelsea is a complicating factor but I think Pool's have the more favorable fixtures so the CL place looks pretty secured.
excellent work...
after heskey's last gasp equalizer yesterday, united can afford a draw and a loss to chelsea in their remaining four matches and still win the title on goal differential.
but blackburn have plenty to play for. they are 6 points behind portsmouth, who occupy the last UEFA cup spot in sixth place, and they still face pompey once more on the 27th. they've already likened the match against united to a cup final.
things look very good for united, but anything can happen, as chelsea found out the hard way yesterday...
I apologize for the big blank gap between the title of my post and the table. I'm not sure yet what the problem is. I inserted html table tag to make that table and the preview looks ok. Puzzled...
Tottenham owns the second UEFA spot via their Carling cup win. So only the 5th place team in the PL table can claim the other UEFA spot. Blackburn are 10 points behind Everton; I think their chances for the UEFA spot extremely are slim.
ah, pesky spurs and their carling cup victory. but blackburn do have a shot at european football in the form of the er, distinguished intertoto cup...
still can't underestimate the hard-nosed rovers though. pundits have been claiming that united would drop points at ewood park for weeks now, and you know that mark hughes and company would just love to play spoiler. meanwhile, roque santa cruz and stephen warnock have issued warnings to united that the match will be no stroll in the park. look for a cagey, physical battle on saturday...
Blackburn do have a quality side and Mark Hugh may also want to prove that he can compete against his old boss. You're right; this could indeed be a tricky one for the Red Devils.
I'm glad Chelsea and Everton are playing each other. At least one of them has to drop points.
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