End is finally in sight
EPL: STILL PLENTY TO PLAY FOR AS THE PROTRACTED SEASON WINDS DOWN
Three hundred and fifty-three days since Liverpool kicked off the Premier League season it will stagger to a conclusion tomorrow with unresolved issues at both ends of the table set to provide last-day drama.
Liverpool are champions and Norwich City, the side whom they beat on 9 August to launch their title charge, are down and Manchester City are distant runners-up.
After that everything is up for grabs.
Leicester City entered the near three-month shutdown caused by the Covid-19 pandemic looking odds-on for a top-four finish, but have faltered in the frenetic weeks since last month’s restart.
Brendan Rodgers’s side have been offered one last chance to seal a Champions League qualification berth, however, as they finish at home to Manchester United.
Two wins in their eight games since the Premier League resumed behind closed doors means Leicester go into the final day in fifth spot with 62 points, one point behind United who are ahead of Chelsea on goal difference.
Incredibly, after 25 games Leicester were 14 points clear of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side and eight clear of Chelsea.
After a 3-0 defeat at Tottenham last weekend Rodgers promised the United showdown, which has effectively become a Champions
League playoff, would be “all in”.
United have more wriggle room as a draw would suffice but Solskjaer has promised they will go for victory.
“It’s like a final,” Solskjaer said. “We pinpointed the Leicester game and thought if we had the chance to go and win there (to get into the top four) we’d be delighted.
“But we’ve caught up and given ourselves a fantastic opportunity.
But they are very dangerous.”
Chelsea’s 5-3 defeat by Liverpool means Frank Lampard’s team must avoid defeat at home to sixth-placed Wolves to guarantee a top-four spot, although they could lose out, if Leicester are beaten by United.
Leicester could scramble back into the top four with a draw if Chelsea come unstuck against a Wolves side trying to lock down a guaranteed Europa League qualification berth. Seventh-placed Tottenham Hotspur, one point behind Wolves, end at Crystal Palace who have now lost seven in a row, but seventh spot would only be good enough for a Europa League berth if Arsenal fail to beat Chelsea in the FA Cup final.
At the bottom, two of Bournemouth, Watford and Aston Villa will join Norwich City in falling through the relegation trapdoor. –