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All eyes will be on Anfield today as the final day of the Premier League season sees Liverpool host Brighton and Hove Albion with their Champions League hopes in their hands. They will be keeping tabs on St James’ Park, where Chelsea will visit Newcastle United in a last-ditch attempt to steal fourth place.
Meanwhile, it will take a great escape for Swansea City to survive relegation. Wednesday’s 1-0 win over Newcastle means Tottenham are now assured of a top-four place. They sit on 74 points, while Liverpool have 72 and Chelsea have 70.
In previous seasons, this would have meant that Spurs and Liverpool were contending for automatic qualification for the group stage, which was only handed to the top three.
However, with new rules being introduced for next season’s Champions League, fourth place is now enough to skip the playoffs.
Liverpool’s goal difference (+42) is vastly superior to Chelsea’s (+27) so, in all likelihood, a point against Brighton would see them through. Should Chelsea pick up anything less than all three points from their final fixture, they will have no hope of qualifying.
Ironically, Chelsea will be squaring off against Rafael Benítez, who has managed both them and Liverpool. The Spaniard won the Champions League with the Reds in 2005 and the Europa League with the Blues in 2013. However, he was far more popular at Anfield than at Stamford Bridge.
Benítez could be forgiven for wanting to do Liverpool a favour against the club whose fans routinely protested against his appointment as interim manager in November 2012.
As things stand, fifth-placed Chelsea are on track for the Europa League group stages, along with sixth-placed Arsenal. Burnley, who have arguably been the surprise package of the season, have sealed seventh place and a spot in the second qualification round.
If the Blues leapfrog Liverpool into fourth place, they will be assured of a spot in the Champions League, regardless of what happens in Liverpool’s final against Real Madrid, as Uefa have changed the rules since Chelsea’s Champions League win saw Spurs deprived of a place in 2012.
Chelsea would have been in a far more promising position had they not been held to a 1-1 draw by Huddersfield Town on Wednesday. That result saw the Terriers secure their survival, leaving Southampton and Swansea to scrap it out for 17th place. Southampton sit on 36 points to Swansea’s 33 and hold a goal difference of -18 to the Welsh side’s -27.
The Saints will host champions Manchester City at St Mary’s knowing that a point would be enough to secure survival. Even if they fail to pick it up, they will almost certainly stay up, bar a heavy defeat for them and a mammoth victory for Swansea over Stoke City. – TEAMtalk Media
