The race is on! The race for the Premier League title is not even as intense as the race for this one. It is a race that has featured so many falls and stumbles. It’s the race for third and fourth in the English Premier League. Who are the contenders?
Let’s start from the bottom
Sarri & His SarriBallers
The boys in blue have had a topsy-turvy season so far. From hugging the ball down to horrific thrashings, Sarri has not had an easy induction into the English game. The Italian has proven a stubborn customer who will not change his style regardless of the depths his team falls to.
VERDICT: Will Chelsea make top-four, going by form and their season as a whole, NO. The best the blues will get from this season is a lowly 5th. Put into consideration that the Blues still have to navigate through away matches against Liverpool and Manchester United and 6th just might be Chelsea’s reality.
Ole & Manchester United
Full-time. Arsenal 2 Manchester 0. This loss had been coming for quite a while, the fact that it was Arsenal that finally brought it seemed only apt. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for all the plaudits he has been receiving has not done much tactically at United. Those boys are playing with unadulterated motivation at the base of their gameplay. That is one thing we can credit Ole with.
Now, the inevitable Premier League loss has come, will it open up a dam of further losses? Or will the boys march on to a top-four spot?
VERDICT: The only reason why there is a possibility Manchester United will finish the league in fourth is because of Arsenal’s volatile nature. Manchester United are not invincible again, and with matches against Manchester City and Chelsea still to come, Ole might just be about to find out what the Premier League is truly about. Once your invincibility is thwarted, the wolves come calling. They are stronger favourites for 5th than Sarri’s Chelsea though.
Unai’s Arsenal
The Gunners are firm favourites for fourth spot. They have a fairly easy fixture list with the trickiest of those against the likes of Wolves, Everton and the slippery Crystal Palace. Fourth position is literally theirs to lose. The ball is in their cot and Unai has to convince that he is truly an upgrade to Monsieur Wenger.
Verdict: The Gunners should easily retain 4th spot. Except, they bottle it which is really far down their alley. Apart from that, gunners’ fans might even dare to dream of 3rd. Why? Introducing….
Pochettino’s Spurs
Spurs gave both Manchester United and Chelsea the chance to snatch 3rd spot over the weekend. Neither side had the cojones. With crunch away fixtures to Liverpool and Manchester City still to come and a potentially tricky tie to Everton on the final day of the League, the road might just be bent for Spurs.
Verdict: If Arsenal do the needful, Spurs will not finish in 3rd. Plain and Simple. However, the worst for Spurs should be 4th spot.
In the end, the table might just be looking this way
3rd. Arsenal
4th. Tottenham
5th. Manchester United
6th. Chelsea
