5 teams in danger of missing out on Champions League next season

#3 AS Roma

Roma have been knocked off their perch this season

From scripting a historic comeback in the Champions League against Barcelona to being mauled 7-1 by Fiorentina, AS Roma have plunged mightily in the last 12 months. Eusebio Di Francesco was given the boot after a series of disappointing results, but things have hardly changed for the better even after miracle-worker Claudio Ranieri took over the helm.

Back-to-back losses to Spal and Napoli followed by a home draw to the Viola opened the door for AC Milan to sneak into the top four, leaving the Romans trailing by a point and position adrift. Now with six games left in the campaign, they still have tough away games to Inter Milan and Sassuolo interspersed between a home game to champions-elect Juventus.

A fragile defence - they’ve leaked 46 goals this season - coupled with the poor form of talisman Edin Dzeko - he’s struck only eight times in the league - have hurt Roma badly and forced to look for goal-scoring options elsewhere. Aleksandar Kolarov has stepped up once again, but the fact that he’s the team’s third-best scorer shows everything that’s wrong with the team.

Radja Nainggolan’s departure to the Nerazzurri has also made Roma poorer for a capable midfielder.

La Magica had consistently been second-best in the league for a long time until Napoli’s resurgence in recent years. But the decline this season has been so steep that even a Champions League place finish has become a difficult objective to achieve.