How Man Utd, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Chelsea’s Final Four Premier League Fixtures Compare
Just four Premier League matches remain as the race to qualify for next season’s Champions League draws to its conclusion.
Title chasers Arsenal and Manchester City have long secured their place in Europe’s premier competition for another year, but the picture is slightly less certain beneath them.
Manchester United are closest to joining their rivals following Monday night’s victory over Brentford, which saw them move 11 points clear of sixth place, while Aston Villa and Liverpool are in pole position to round out the rest of the top five.
For Chelsea, things are unclear. They’re currently eighth in the standings and cut adrift in the hunt for Champions League qualification, but remain more likely than Bournemouth and Brighton & Hove Albion to push for that all-important fifth spot.
With that in mind, here’s how the final Premier League fixtures compare for Man Utd, Liverpool, Villa and Chelsea.
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How Man Utd, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Chelsea’s Fixtures Compare
Man Utd (61 points) | Liverpool (58 points) | Aston Villa (58 points) | Chelsea (48 points) |
|---|---|---|---|
Liverpool (H) | Man Utd (A) | Tottenham (H) | Nott’m Forest (H) |
Sunderland (A) | Chelsea (H) | Burnley (A) | Liverpool (A) |
Nott’m Forest (H) | Aston Villa (A) | Liverpool (H) | Tottenham (H) |
Brighton (A) | Brentford (H) | Man City (A) | Sunderland (A) |
Chelsea have quite the deficit to overturn. In fact, given they’re 10 points behind fifth-placed Villa, Opta’s fabled supercomputer offers them just a 0.58% chance of qualifying for the Champions League. Even victory in all their remaining matches is unlikely to be enough.
On paper, the Blues have some winnable fixtures. A trip to Anfield allows them to make ground on Liverpool, that fixture sandwiched in between matches at home to relegation-threatened Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur—the chance to relegate the latter a genuine possibility at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea then finish up with a trip to Sunderland, who beat them earlier this term.
Fortunately for the Blues, there is another way they can make the Champions League, albeit it’s out of their control. They would need Villa to come fifth in the Premier League and win the Europa League, while also finishing sixth themselves.
Liverpool appear incredibly unlikely to surrender their Champions League berth, but a challenging set of remaining fixtures casts slight doubt. The Reds travel to Man Utd and Villa in their next three games, in between which they welcome Chelsea to Merseyside.
Given Liverpool’s inconsistencies, it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that they fail to win any of those matches, allowing those beneath them to close the gap. The Reds are eight points clear of sixth currently, and finish up their campaign at home to Brentford—another team in the hunt for European qualification. The Reds need a maximum of five more points to ensure their qualification.
Currently behind Liverpool on goal difference alone, Villa will want to wrap up Champions League qualification as quickly as possible, ensuring they can fully focus on the Europa League. The first leg of their semifinal with Nottingham Forest arrives this Thursday.
Fixtures at home to struggling Tottenham and away at already relegated Burnley in their next two give them an excellent opportunity to wrap things up, before they finish with difficult clashes at home to Liverpool and on the road at Manchester City.
Man Utd can breathe much easier. They need just two points from their remaining four games to complete the incredible job Michael Carrick began back in January, and it would prove ever so sweet if they could secure their spot with victory against bitter rivals Liverpool this coming weekend.
Even if they can’t manage that, they have three more chances to clinch their place. A battle with Nottingham Forest at Old Trafford comes in between away days at opposite ends of the country, a trip to Sunderland coming prior to the journey to Brighton.
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