Decision time in EPL – climax at hand

Despite Liverpool securing the title early on and Manchester City latching on the runner-up spot, the season finale of the Premier League is as interesting as ever. With Manchester City’s UCL-ban uplifted, the battle for UCL intensified significantly, not to mention the continental qualification to Europa League in play. The season will be won or lost within the last two rounds and the pressure for the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United is sky-high, with Leicester still giving the giants hard time in top 4.

Chelsea is currently standing 3^rd with 63 points, Leicester 4^th with 62 and Manchester United 5^th with 62 as well. These three teams will decide the faith of the two Champions League qualification places. The schedule ahead looks thrilling: Chelsea is playing Liverpool on the road and Wolves at home, Leicester travels to Tottenham and Manchester United hosts West Ham before the clubs clash in Leicester to finish off the season. If the probabilities play out, the last round is likely to be the decider for everything, keeping in mind that every opponent except for Liverpool has something to play for: Wolves and Tottenham are fighting for the final Europa League qualification and West Ham is fighting for the survival. It will not be an easy task for any of the clubs.

Reaching Europe would be a great achievement for Wolves and something of a letdown for Spurs, but almost like winning a lottery for newly promoted Sheffield United, currently two points behind Wolves and one point to Spurs. The Blades’ season has been an utter success already, especially considering how bad their fellow promoted teams have been: Norwich is already relegated and Aston Villa is fighting for their life in the relegation zone, three points from safety. While Wolves and Spurs are the more likely teams to make it to Europe, Sheffield has shown they’re not giving up easily; they’ve beaten both teams in their past five games. In theory, Arsenal and even Burnley are still capable of reaching the seventh, currently at 53 and 51 points. This would require all three of their betters to stumble and that’s highly unlikely.