Who will win what this season?
The 201819 football season is rapidly drawing to a close, and right now several clubs have their eyes firmly fixed on winning a trophy or two!
With games fast running out, it’s a twohorse race at the top of the Premiership with Liverpool and reigning champions Manchester City going for glory.
Norwich City and either Leeds United or Sheffield United seem to be favourites to climb out of the Championship… Luton Town and Barnsley are on course to rise from League One… Lincoln City have clinched promotion from League Two… while in the National League, Leyton Orient are on the brink of returning to the Football League while Solihull Moors and Salford City are also in with a shout of claiming FL status. However, it could be sad news for one of the founder members of the Football League, and the oldest club in the world, Notts County, with demotion from League Two to the National League starring them in the face.
In Scotland, Celtic are set to clinch their 50th SPL League title – and their eighth in succession while here in Spain, Barcelona have virtually tied up La Liga for the 26th time … only Atletico Madrid can effectively deny them glory.
Looking around Europe’s top Leagues… Juventus have won Italy’s Serie ‘A’; Red Bull Saltzburg are looking strong in Austria; FC Genk and Brugge are the main contestants in Belgium; PSV Eindhoven and Ajax are battling it out in Holland; the German Bundesliga title seems to be heading Bayern Munich’s way; Benfica and FC Porto are neck and neck at the top of the Dutch League, while Paris Saint Germain have won the League championship in France for the eleventh time.
Moving onto the European Cup competitions… and Barcelona will play Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur will face Ajax in the semifinals of the Champions League while two more English teams, Arsenal and Chelsea, will oppose Valencia and Eintracht Frankfurt respectively in the semifinals of the Europa League.
On the domestic front, the FA Cup final (on 18th May) will feature treblechasing Manchester City against Watford while Celtic, also seeking to win three trophies, will take on Hearts in the Scottish Cup final.
Manchester City’s U18s are also in the FA Youth Cup final while the women’s Champions League Cup final could feature Chelsea Ladies against their Barcelona counterparts.
And finally, who will be voted ‘Footballer/Player’ of the Year? My choice is the Liverpool’s Dutch international centreback Virgil van Dijk, if the Merseysiders win the Premiership, or Raheem Sterling if the title goes to Manchester City.