Three into two
City, Liverpool and Arsenal fight for last Champions League spots
THE battle for the top-four in the Premier League goes down to the final day as one of Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal will miss out this weekend as the final two Champions League spots from the Premier League are decided.
With Chelsea having wrapped up the title and Sunderland, Middlesbrough and Hull already relegated, all attention will be on the matches involving third, fourth and fifth.
City, who need just a point to be sure of finishing in the top four, travel to a Watford side who found out this week that manager Walter Mazzarri is to leave at the end of the season.
Pep Guardiola will be desperate to secure third spot, and a place in the Champions League proper, without needing to go through a qualification round.
City midfielder Fernandinho insists the players’ minds are on getting the point they need but admits they need to improve next season.
“When things go wrong you grow a little bit more and learn more from the mistakes,” he told reporters.
“We can learn from the mistakes of this season and the next one will be completely different.
“I hope we’ll be more consistent, start well, have the same levels in the tough period. And I hope at the end of the season we can be fighting for the title. Next season we can be much, much better.”
Liverpool, one point clear in fourth, host Middlesbrough knowing they pip Arsenal to a top-four spot if they match or better the performance of Arsene Wenger’s side this weekend.
For a Liverpool side that has been in the Champions League just once in the past seven seasons, the match holds enormous importance, something manager Jurgen Klopp said the players did not need reminding.
“I don’t think we need different kinds of descriptions for this game (like) it’s a ‘Cup final’ or a ‘World Cup final’ or that it’s the most important game of however many years and everything,” he told the club’s website. Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool team need a win against Middlesbrough at Anfield today to guarantee Champions League football next season.
“I don’t think anybody needs this special motivation or whatever.
“In the end, we have to play football and I am really happy I have a team able to do this.”
Liverpool have slipped up against teams in the bottom half of the table and recently found it hard to get results at home, having failed to win at Anfield since beating Everton on April 1.
But Klopp said he was not concerned that his team will not be able to handle the pressure, and not worried about trying to do it on the final day of the season.
“For me, it is not a surprise because in 17 years of working as a manager, it’s probably happened 15 times minimum until the last match-day,” he said.
“It’s all good and what everybody would expect from a football season, that you would have to fight until the end – and that’s what we do.”
Arsenal have finished in the top-four in all of Wenger’s 20 seasons in charge but their fate is out of their hands as they prepare to host Everton today.
A late surge has given them a chance, if Liverpool slip up, and Wenger said he was proud of how his players have responded in times of adversity this season.
“They have been questioned many times on the mental aspect of their game. I think if you look at our record through the season, you wouldn’t question that,” he told Arsenal’s website.
“(The season) finishes a bit early for us now but let’s finish the job on Sunday (today) and win the game and then we’ll see where we stand.”
Chelsea will celebrate their title win by hosting relegated Sunderland while second-placed Tottenham will finish with a trip to another relegated side, Hull.
Manchester United, who will finish sixth, host Crystal Palace, while Swansea play West Bromwich Albion, Burnley host West Ham, Leicester meet Bournemouth and Southampton take on Stoke in the day’s other matches. – DPA