Exciting Premier League sprint

THE COMPARISON OF… HALF THE TOURNAMENT

Suppose the football season ends right now, what no one could imagine will become a reality: Manchester City (Man.City) of famous coach Pep Guardiola is out of the top 4, meaning there is no place in the Champions League next season, according to the usual "quota" (saying that because it is not known whether this year the Premier League will be granted 4 or 5 places in the Champions League next season).

The top 4 currently has 2 teams that are considered certain to be in the top 4, Liverpool and Arsenal. Next are Nottingham Forest and Chelsea. But it should be noted: the 4th team Chelsea is currently only 2 points ahead of the 6th team Newcastle while Newcastle still has 1 match left to play. Assuming that they take all 3 points in this match, Newcastle will replace Chelsea in the 4th position, while Man.City will even be pushed down to the 6th position.

Man.City ( right ) still has a chance to win a ticket to the Champions League

PHOTO: REUTERS

Of course, Man.City are only temporarily out of the top 4, but they cannot be eliminated from the race for a Champions League spot before the last 9 rounds. The problem here is that the gap between the teams is too tight, leading to the consequence that anything can happen in the final rankings. In the current 5th position, Man.City is only 4 points ahead of the 10th team Bournemouth. Between Man.City and Bournemouth (respectively) are Newcastle, Brighton, Fulham and Aston Villa. Once Bournemouth still has hope to close the 4-point gap with the 5th position, of course the teams above them all have that hope too.

If there are no surprises, the Premier League will be granted 5 places in the Champions League next season. Except for Liverpool and Arsenal, who are almost completely assured, the race is now down to 8 teams (from number 3 to number 10), competing for the remaining 3 places. According to Opta's computer prediction, the 3rd team Nottingham Forest currently has the highest hope (85.6%). Man.City and Newcastle are the 2 other teams with above average chances of qualifying for the Champions League (78.4% and 52.3% respectively). The current 4th team Chelsea has only 48.4% hope. The small team Brighton (currently ranked 7th) has 20.1% hope.

UNPREDICTABLE RESULTS

From now until the end of the tournament, any clash between teams in groups 3 to 10 will be very important, like a kind of "mini final". The interesting thing is that these teams are very evenly matched, so it is difficult to predict the result. This is also part of the more general characteristic of this season: the concept of "Big 6" has really broken down, the gap between the average teams and the old "big guys" group is almost gone. Tottenham and MU are not even mentioned in the above race, when they are only 4 or 5 places above the relegation group.

Here comes another complication, making the race for Champions League spots even more unpredictable. Both Tottenham and MU have hopes of qualifying for next season's Champions League, but on a different path: trying to win the Europa League. They have both reached the quarter-finals of this tournament. It is clear: as long as they have not stopped at the Europa League, both MU and Tottenham consider this a priority match. To some extent, it can be said that although MU and Tottenham do not participate in the race for Champions League spots in the Premier League, they indirectly have a great influence on that race.

Finally, the eternal beauty of the Premier League: high surprise rate, with the constant ups and downs of mid-level teams. Just 4 rounds ago, Bournemouth was holding the number 5 position. But now, they have dropped to number 10. Brighton has moved from number 10 to number 7 in that time, only 1 point behind Man.City.

Source: https://thanhnien.vn/gay-can-chang-nuoc-rut-giai-ngoai-hang-anh-185250331211424831.htm