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Could this season produce the best PL climax to a campaign?

David Nugent in Editorial, English Premier League 16 Apr 2014

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The destination of the Premier League trophy is just one of the issues that needs to resolved in the next few weeks

The destination of the Premier League trophy is just one of the issues that needs to resolved in the next few weeks

With just four Premier League games remaining for most clubs, the campaign could produce one of the best climax’s to a season in a long-time.

Normally there are some issues that are already resolved at this point of the season, but nothing has yet been decided.

League Title

The race for the Premier League title is an intriguing one. Liverpool gained a massive advantage in the race by defeating rivals Manchester City 3-2 at Anfield on Sunday.

The win put the Reds seven points clear of the Citizens, but Manuel Pellegrini’s men have two games in-hand, one of which City play tonight against bottom of the table Sunderland.

Chelsea are just two points behind Liverpool with a visit to Anfield still to come this season. Liverpool are the favourites to win the title at odds of 4/5, but that game at Anfield could be the key to the destination of the title.

City now have to win all their remaining games to have any hope of the title, while if the Reds claim four victories the title will be theirs. Chelsea also have to win their remaining games to have any hope of winning the league.

This seasons title race is one of the most open in years and although Liverpool are in the box seat, Chelsea or City could still claim the title.

Champions League

With Liverpool, Chelsea and City all now virtually guaranteed a place in the Champions League there is just one spot remaining in Europe’s elite competition. In February Arsenal were top of the Premier League table and looking like realistic title contenders.

Fast forward two months and all of a sudden the Gunners are in a fight for fourth spot with Everton, who have won seven straight games. Arsenal are a point ahead of the Toffees, but Roberto Martinez’s side have a game in-hand which they play tonight against Crystal Palace.

A win against Palace would again put the Merseysider’s in pole position for the fourth Champions League spot. However, they have far tougher remaining games. It would be an incredible feat for Everton to win their remaining fixtures, as it would mean they would have claimed 13 straight victories.

Relegation

The relegation picture has changed slightly in the past few weeks. Previously dead and buried Fulham have won their last two games and put themselves within touching distance of safety, while the likes of Norwich, Swansea, West Brom and Aston Villa still look in danger.

Cardiff gave their bid for survival a boost at the weekend with a 1-0 win at Southampton. Even bottom of the table Sunderland cannot be completely written-off, as the Black Cats have two games in hand, but are seven points away from safety.

One of Gus Poyet’s sides games in-hand is of course tonight’s trip to title challengers Manchester City, so it looks difficult for the north east side to escape the drop.

The team who are currently outside the drop zone, but in the most danger of dropping into it are Norwich, who have a terrible last four games. The Canaries host top of the table Liverpool on Saturday, before visiting Manchester United and Chelsea.

The Canaries then face a potentially must-win last game of the season at home to Arsenal, who could still be fighting for fourth place. Neil Adams side look like they could be dragged into the drop zone in the coming weeks. The side from Norfolk are now odds of 4/9 to be relegated to the Championship.

Wire

It would be fantastic for all the remaining issues to go down to the wire. Too often in recent seasons everything is resolved prior to the last few games of the season and the end of season games have little meaning, other than what prize money teams are going to earn from their league position.

However, this season looks set to go down to the last few weeks of the season, as everything in the Premier League is far from resolved, which is just makes for a very interesting last few weeks of the campaign.

Could this season produce the best PL climax to a campaign?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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