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As another Premier League season draws to a close, the tussle between teams for getting their desired position in the league standings is at its peak. The title race is a foregone conclusion, with Manchester City champions-in-waiting.
The likes of Liverpool and Manchester United have all but sealed their Champions League spots with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur battle for a right to make Europe’s premier tournament.
However, there is another race brewing just below the top six positions, a race to get into the Europa League.
As per UEFA rules, there can be three representatives from England in the Europa League. While the fifth-place team gets automatic passage to the group stage of the tournament, the remaining two spots are reserved for the winners of the FA Cup and the Carabao Cup.
Manchester City took home the Carabao Cup and in all probability, the FA Cup will be won by a team in the top five on the league table. This potentially leaves two spots open for teams finishing sixth and seventh. Arsenal is the odds-on favourite to finish sixth, so there is just one more spot up for grabs.
At the moment there are as many as three teams who are in the race for finishing seventh namely Leicester City, Burnley, and Everton.
While the Foxes and the Toffees have seen continental football in the recent past, if Burnley makes it, this would mark their return to Europe for the first time in over half a century.
Burnley
Sean Dyche’s boys have been one of the surprises of the season. Their recent form has been fantastic, it has seen them lose only once in their last six fixtures. Burnley’s remaining matches contain an even spread of home and away games.
With the form they are in right now, the club would fancy themselves to get results when they play away to Watford and Stoke City. Their final away fixture of the season is against the Gunners and it seems unlikely that they will get anything out of it.
In comparison, their home fixtures seem to be a much sterner challenge on paper with Turf Moor hosting the likes of Chelsea and Leicester City this month.
Next week’s encounter against the Foxes would be a pivotal game for both teams and a home win might very well give Burnley a six-point lead which could be the clincher in the race for that final spot.
Strikers Ashley Barnes & Chris Wood have been in good form of late and will be crucial to the Clarets' hopes of appearing in Europe next season.
In May, the club will host Bournemouth in their final game of the season and one assumes that Burnley would be able to secure three points in that game as well.
Expected results from the remaining fixtures: 11 points from 7 games (3 Wins,2 draws, 2 losses).
Leicester City
After an uncertain start to the season, the Foxes have grown in confidence and have gone on a great run themselves which has seen them lose only twice in the Premier League in 2018. Their talisman, Jamie Vardy seems to have found the touch just at the right time and has now scored in each of the last three games for the club.
Leicester have four games left at the Kingpower Stadium where they will host Newcastle, West Ham, Southampton, and Arsenal.
While the Saints are almost a certainty to go down this season, Newcastle and the Hammers have been really poor away from home in this campaign. So the Foxes would be expecting to win three of their last four homes games at the very least.
Their away games include a trip to Selhurst Park to play a Crystal Palace side who have won only once at home in this calendar year so it is not hard to infer that their trip next week to Burnley would be of paramount importance for the club.
A positive result at Turf Moor could be a potential clincher for the Foxes in their hunt for the coveted seventh place.
Expected results from remaining fixtures: 13 points from 7 games ( 4 wins,1 draw, 2 losses).
Everton
Compared to the other two teams, Everton is going into the final stretch of the season with a less than impressive recent form. Big Sam has seen his boys lose three times in the last five premier league games which have put the Toffees in Ninth position, six points adrift of the seventh spot.
Everton has six games to go this season starting with the Merseyside Derby this weekend. The kind of form Liverpool has shown of late doesn’t seem to suggest that Goodison Park will have much to cheer about this Saturday and their remaining fixtures include trips to Swansea, Huddersfield, and West Ham.
On paper, all three fixtures look winnable for this talented Everton squad, but when we consider the fact that their only away win in 2018 has come against Stoke City, playing at the Liberty stadium or the London Stadium could turn out to be a tricky proposition for them.
In this scenario, wins in the remaining home fixtures against Newcastle and Southampton might not be enough to give the Toffees their desired seventh in the league standing on 13th May.
Expected results from remaining fixtures: 10 points from six games ( 3 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses).
The Verdict
In the present scenario, Burnley and Leicester City seem to be almost neck and neck in the dash to the finish line. A lot will be on the line when the two teams clash next week at Turf Moore.
Moreover, football is a funny game and on a given day, anyone can beat anyone. So who knows, maybe the Saints could do the unthinkable and win the FA Cup, thus spoiling the party for all of the contenders.
