The title race was over long ago as Liverpool were the runaway leaders of the Premier League season. Also, Southampton, Ipswich Town and Leicester City were doomed to relegation back to the Championship early on. However, the race for the Champions League places will go down to the final day of the season.
Premier League standings
TEAM | RECORD (last five games) | Points |
|---|---|---|
Liverpool | W-W-W-L-D | 83 |
Arsenal | W-D-L-D-W | 71 |
Newcastle | L-W-D-W-L | 66 |
Chelsea | W-W-W-L-W | 66 |
Aston Villa | W-L-W-W-W | 66 |
Man City | W-W-W-W-D | 65 |
Nottingham Forest | W-L-D-D-W | 65 |
Brentford | W-W-W-W-L | 55 |
Brighton | D-L-W-D-W | 55 |
Fulham | L-W-L-L-W | 54 |
Bournemouth | W-D-D-W-L | 53 |
Crystal Palace | L-D-D-D-W | 49 |
Everton | L-L-D-W-W | 45 |
Wolves | W-W-W-L-L | 41 |
West Ham | D-L-D-W-L | 40 |
Man United | L-D-L-L-L | 39 |
Tottenham | L-L-D-L-L | 38 |
Leicester | L-L-W-D-W | 25 |
Ipswich | L-L-D-L-L | 22 |
Southampton | D-L-L-D-L | 12 |
Nottingham Forest have run out of steam
Most Nottingham Forest fans would have taken a season without fear of relegation ahead of this campaign. However, at one stage, Forest were thought to be challengers to Liverpool for the title. Hopes of Forest emulating Leicester's remarkable achievements during the 2015/16 season faded.
Chris Wood has been like a Jamie Vardy figure this campaign, scoring 20 goals in 35 games. Only Mohamed Salah, Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland have found the back of the net more than Wood this season. The New Zealander has been one of many Forest players who have performed as admirably as Leicester's title-winning team.
Qualifying for the Champions League would be an amazing achievement for Forest. Especially as they have a history in the competition that preceded it. Under Brian Clough, they won the European Cup back-to-back in 1979 and 1980. The tournament was very different back then, with no group stage or league phase, just a straight knockout.
Forest still has an outside chance of qualifying for the Champions League, but they must beat Chelsea on the final day. Nuno Espirito Santo's side has home advantage in this fixture and would leapfrog the Blues if they win. However, Chelsea will still be the favorites in this game as they have been on a better run of form recently.
Even if Nuno's side misses out on Champions League soccer, they have still had an unbelievable campaign and being in any form of European competition is still some achievement for Forest.
Man City will pip Aston Villa at the post
Aston Villa currently occupy fifth place in the Premier League, which is the additional Champions League qualifying spot that has been awarded to English teams this season. However, Manchester City, who are just one point behind the Villans, have a game in hand on them, which Pep Guardiola's side should win.
City needs to beat AFC Bournemouth tomorrow and then Fulham on the final day of the season to qualify for European soccer's top competition. The Cityzens suffered a defeat in the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace last Saturday. This means that City must qualify for the Champions League to claw back some pride from their disappointing campaign.
Villa were in the Champions League this season, where they performed admirably and beat Bayern Munich in the league phase. However, they went out to the finalists, Paris-Saint-Germain, in the quarter-finals. Unai Emery's side plays Europa League finalists Manchester United on the final day. Villa beat United's opposition at the San Mamés Stadium, Tottenham Hotspur, 2-0, last time out.
Even if Villa beat United, they will still need other results to go their way. It will be a blow to the Birmingham side if they fail to qualify for the Champions League. It would mean that it would be far harder for them to sign loanees such as Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio permanently. Attracting other top players in the summer transfer window would also be more challenging.
The Europa League is one of Emery's favoured competitions. He won it three times with Sevilla, once with Villareal and even took Arsenal to the final. If Villa are to be in the secondary European tournament next season, then they will surely be favorites for it.