NEWS UPDATE:Ian Darke breaks down the dramatic Premier League run-in…….Read more

 

 

In a Premier League season that has almost defied logic and predictions, this campaign could end with Nottingham Forest, Brighton & Hove Albion and Fulham qualified for next season’s Champions League, and Manchester City missing out on European competition altogether.

Anyone making such a prediction last August would have had their sanity questioned, but that shocking scenario remains a firm possibility as the season boils toward a climax following this international break.

At least the title race looks settled. Liverpoolwill surely be crowned champions, as they hold a 12-point lead over Arsenal with only nine games to play.

The Gunners can cling to the hope that Liverpool might be running out of energy if their lifeless Wembley display against Newcastle United in the Carabao Cup final is any indicator. But that is almost certainly clutching at straws. Even if Arsenal win every remaining game, including a trip to Anfield on May 10, Liverpool can still afford to lose three times — and they’ve only been beaten once all season in league play.

Arsenal’s run-in includes home games against Fulham, Brentford, Crystal Palace, Bournemouth and Newcastle — all talented teams. It is a good bet that the Gunners will not win all of those, even if the much-missed Bukayo Saka‘s return from a long-term injury is reportedly imminent. Not bringing in another striker in January was a costly error for Arsenal — Mikel Merino is doing his best as an emergency No. 9, but it is far from ideal.

My guess is that this international break will have given Liverpool a chance to reset after a nasty few days in which manager Arne Slot suffered his first back-to back defeats since joining the club — losing against Paris Saint-Germain and Newcastle — and the squad was perhaps emotionally drained. Their next assignment, a Merseyside derby against Everton, will concentrate their minds, but will be no formality given the Toffees’ excellent form since David Moyes returned as their manager.

There is no doubt Liverpool and Arsenal will clinch two of a probable five English places in next season’s Champions League — but who gets the other three slots is a puzzle even harder to solve than a Rubik’s Cube while blindfolded. The entire top half of the table is involved in this drama, and it’s impossible to know who will be sitting in the posh seats when the music stops in May.