With title nearly decided, Champions League battle remains fierce

Next weekend’s round of Barclay’s Premier League action will be highlighted by a clash between two heavyweights in English soccer. The Arsenal-Liverpool matchup may not be a title­-decider, but it looks like an all-­important fight for the chance to play in Europe’s premier competition next season — the UEFA Champions League. With eight more rounds still to play, most teams will be focusing on what they can realistically achieve this season, from the UEFA contenders to those fearing regulation.

Everton, for example, started out the season with hopes of landing in one of the top five or six places, not enough to qualify it for the Champions League, but instead for Europe’s less prestigious, but still highly lucrative, Europa League. Now, a disappointed Everton squad has found itself dwelling closer to the bottom than anywhere near the top five. As a result, Everton’s manager, the Spaniard Roberto Martinez, has expressed some worry over the team possibly falling into the bottom three places, called the relegation zone. A finish in the relegation zone would mean Everton’s first departure from the Premier League since 1951. With nine points separating the “Toffees” and one of those relegation spots, the club should be in just good enough condition to avoid a catastrophic departure from England’s top league. In an effort to distance themselves further from disaster, Everton will hope for three points (earned by winning) at home against a difficult Southampton side on Saturday, April 4.

Tottenham is another team that may need to come to terms with landing outside of a high-enough position. The team from North London travels to Burnley to take on the struggling side this coming weekend, but its fate might already be out of its control. Unlike Everton, the Tottenham “Hotspurs” were hoping for a top-four finish resulting in Champions League qualification. Sitting in seventh, the team will surely feel that the top four might just be out of its reach this season. If all of the results go their way this weekend, the Spurs will still only find themselves in fifth and trailing another three points behind fourth. Tottenham’s Argentinian manager Mauricio Pochettino will be hoping that the team’s 21-year­-old English striker Harry Kane continues his red-­hot form, which has seen him score five goals in his last three appearances for the club.

Tottenham’s opponent this weekend, Burnley, will be hoping for a result in their favor as they attempt to climb out of the bottom three and stay in the Premier League for next season. The club was promoted from England’s second tier (the English League Championship) just last season but will end up returning to the League Championship if its form doesn’t pick up soon. If Burnley earns a win at home this weekend, it could see itself jump up to 15th (out of 20) in the table and out of the relegation zone.

Taking up the two positions below Burnley are Queens Park Ranger and Leicester City —­ both teams were also promoted to the Premier League this season. Having recently undergone a change in management, the struggling Queens Park Rangers team is searching for stability in order to mount a surge back out of the bottom three to stay in the top division. On Saturday, it will take on another team close to the bottom in West Bromwich Albion away from home.

Meanwhile, toiling at the bottom of the league table is a Leicester City team that looks truly lost amongst England’s best competition. Its points­ total is poor enough at the moment that a win on Saturday might still not be enough to lift it off the floor of the table. It will have the benefit of playing at home, however, and face a West Ham United side that has lost a great deal of its composure since impressing in the first half of the season. With a win, manager Nigel Pearson’s team might just be able to mount an unlikely comeback to stay in the top league.

Historically, Premier League seasons almost always feature a tight battle for the title. In that respect, this season is shaping up to be somewhat abnormal as Chelsea sits six points clear at the top of the table. Also, having played one less game than the other title contenders, Chelsea could potentially open up a nine point lead at the top.

That means that most of the late­-season drama will most likely be coming out of the battle for Champions League qualification spots. At the moment, in those three qualifying spots behind Chelsea sit Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United. To show just how close the three are in points, if Manchester United, currently in fourth, were to win this weekend, it could potentially leapfrog Arsenal and Manchester City into second place. Sitting five points away from the top four in fifth is Liverpool, and one point behind Liverpool stand Southampton and Tottenham. All six of these teams will feel they have a chance of finishing in the top four spots, and a win for one team or a loss for another could mean a major shift in that section of the table.

Clearly, the Arsenal­-Liverpool matchup will carry great importance this weekend. A loss for Arsenal could shrink the gap between the two teams from six points to three. If Arsenal wins, however, the gap between the current top four and the fifth place team could be as big as seven points by the end of the weekend. While Arsenal hosts Liverpool in London on Saturday, Manchester United will be hosting Aston Villa the same day as it looks to further cement its place in the top four. Rounding out top four action, Manchester City will be taking on Crystal Palace in South London next Monday.

Widely regarded as the world’s most competitive league, the Premier league could yet see a great deal of mobility in the table. Fans of the Premier League will hope that the high stakes at the top and bottom of the table will result in not just world class soccer but world class drama as well.