Top four race heats up
Manager Tuchel’s joy — side in final Champions League qualification place
Chelsea have made a significant move in the English Premier League’s frenetic race to qualify for the Champions League. A 1-0 win at West Ham yesterday, coupled with Liverpool conceding a stoppage-time goal to draw with lowly Newcastle 1-1 at Anfield, saw Chelsea open up a gap to their two main rivals for a top four finish.
With five games remaining in the league, Chelsea occupy the fourth and final Champions League qualification place — three points ahead of West Ham and four clear of sixth-placed Liverpool.
“It was a six-pointer,” said Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel, whose team’s packed end to the season also includes an FA Cup final against Leicester and a Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid.
Timo Werner secured the win for Chelsea with just his second league goal since November 7 in what has been an underwhelming first season in England.
The Germany striker scored from close range following Ben Chilwell’s low cross in the 43rd minute for his first goal in 12 appearances in all competitions.
Werner missed an even easier chance in front of a virtually open goal before West Ham’s Fabian Balbuena was sent off for following through on a clearance by landing his studs on the back of Chilwell’s right leg. The referee showed the red card after reviewing the incident on a pitchside monitor.
West Ham still have a chance to catch Chelsea but have lost their last two games and are missing the presence of injured pair Declan Rice and Michail Antonio.
A smiling Tuchel congratulated each of his players on the field after the final whistle at the Olympic Stadium, a contrast to the reaction of Liverpool counterpart Jurgen Klopp after a dramatic finish at Anfield when his team’s season-long vulnerability in defence proved costly again.
Joe Willock’s deflected goal in the fifth minute of injury time has left Liverpool a big outsider to finish in the top four of a league they won by 18 points last season.
“I didn’t see that we deserved playing Champions League next season,” a deflated Klopp said. “We learn, or we don’t play Champions League.”
A failure to reach the Champions League — and all the riches that come with it — will be painful for a club whose American ownership, Fenway Sports Group, was one of the key instigators in the scheme to set up the breakaway Super League.
How galling, then, that the Reds could yet end up in next season’s Europa League — or not playing European football at all.
In Liverpool’s favour is a benign schedule that sees Klopp’s team finish their league campaign against Southampton, West Bromwich Albion, Burnley and Crystal Palace — teams placed 13th or lower.
Before that, though, is a trip to fierce rivals Manchester United next Monday, a match that will be marked by protests owing to both clubs’ American owners’ attempts to create the Super League.
Mohamed Salah moved on to 20 goals, becoming the first Liverpool player to score at least that total in three different Premier League campaigns. It was a superbly taken goal, too, the Egypt forward bringing down a high ball with his left foot and swiveling to fire a fierce finish high into the net.
Salah missed the best of Liverpool’s following 21 shots in a chaotic match that had a fittingly wild ending as Newcastle poured forward.
Substitute Callum Wilson had an equalising goal disallowed in the second minute of stoppage time when the ball rebounded off his arm from Alisson’s save, before the striker bundled it into the net. There was still time for Willock to score with a shot that deflected in off sliding Liverpool defender Fabinho, continuing the onloan Arsenal midfielder’s role as a recent super-sub.
Three late goals from Willock have earned Newcastle four points just this month: an 85th-minute equaliser against Tottenham on April 4, an 82nd-minute winner against West Ham last weekend, and now his goal at Anfield.
In the other match yesterday, Brighton are still not safe from the drop after losing at already-relegated Sheffield United 1-0. Brighton stayed seven points clear of third-to-last Fulham.