London (AFP) – Premier League champions Liverpool are the only club certain of their place in next season’s Champions League as the teams below them jostle for position and Manchester City await a court ruling.
Pep Guardiola’s City, who humbled Liverpool 4-0 on Thursday, should still comfortably finish in the top four, with a 14-point lead over fifth place and just six games to play.
But the outcome of their appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, set to be announced in mid-July, will decide whether a two-season ban from European competitions is upheld.
Should City’s appeal fail, fifth place would be good enough for the riches of Champions League football next season, and results since the Premier League’s restart have tightened the race for a top-five finish.
AFP Sport looks at the contrasting fortunes of four of the contenders.
Leicester – 55 points
Leicester have spent most of the campaign in third and were even Liverpool’s closest challengers for two months earlier in the season as they strung together an eight-game winning run between October and December.
However, that good work has come undone during a run of two wins in 11 league games, including just two points from a possible nine since the restart against Watford, Brighton and Everton.
Goals have dried up for Brendan Rodgers’s men, with Jamie Vardy finding the net just twice in 2020.
Leicester face a tough end to the campaign, with Arsenal, Tottenham and a final-day clash with Manchester United to come.
They also have uncertainty hanging over their heads, with a local lockdown in place in Leicester due to a coronavirus spike.
Saturday’s visit of Crystal Palace is still due to go ahead as scheduled but shifting matches away from the King Power Stadium would be a headache.
Chelsea – 54 points
Frank Lampard’s men were brought back down to earth with a bang in a 3-2 defeat at West Ham on Wednesday after fine form following the restart had them eyeing third rather than looking over their shoulders.
Failure to qualify for the Champions League would be a huge blow to the Blues’ ambitious plans for next season after the signings of Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech, who will add an extra dimension to the Chelsea attack.
However, conceding three times to goal-shy West Ham exposed the defensive problems that Lampard has to solve before turning to the transfer market.
from World Soccer Talk https://ift.tt/3irKCKg
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