Heading into the penultimate
round of the most exciting league in the world there are a few sub-plots from
top to bottom.
At the top of the table, the two
Manchester clubs are fighting it out to see who ends up as this season’s
champions. City currently hold onto the top spot by virtue of a superior 8 goal
difference over United and have their destiny in their own hands. With United expected
to win both their final two games at home to Swansea before travelling away to Sunderland,
City know that if they beat both Newcastle at Sports Direct Arena and QPR at
home on the final day of the season, they will be crowned EPL champions for
season 11/12.
Below them Arsenal and Tottenham
are favourites to finish third and fourth respectively to claim the final UEFA
Champions League places given their remaining fixtures - Arsenal welcome
Norwich at the Emirates Stadium before travelling to West Bromwich Albion
whilst Spurs travel to Villa Park to face Aston Villa before welcoming Fulham
at White Hart Lane. Newcastle will try to claim one of those spots for
themselves but face a tough assignment this round against City. However they
will the Geordies will go into the match full of confidence on the back of a
2-0 victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge thanks to two sensational goals
from the signing of the season Papiss Cisse. Chelsea too are in with a
mathematical chance to claim fourth spot but seem to be more distracted by
their upcoming FA Cup Final appearance against Liverpool as well as travelling
to Munich at the end of the season to take on Bayern Munich in the UEFA
Champions League final.
At the other end of the table,
the incentive for those involved in the relegation battle is massive given the drop
of £30
million in revenue for clubs that get relegated from the richest league in the
world.
Although Wolverhampton Wanderers
were struggling under Mick McCarthy, ever since they sacked him they have been in
free fall and have already claimed the wooden spoon.
In my season preview last year, I
mentioned that Wigan Athletic, Wolves and Blackburn Rovers would be involved in
a relegation battle and right now there are five clubs still involved, Aston
Villa, Wigan, QPR, Bolton Wanderers and Blackburn.
Of these five clubs, I would
expect Wigan to stay up given their scintillating form in the past several
weeks claiming some massive scalps like Liverpool, Manchester United, Arsenal,
and thrashing Newcastle last week. They face Blackburn at Ewood Park this round
which will seal their safety in the EPL for another season and send Rovers down
to the Championship. Even if Wigan fail this week, they end the season at home
to cellar dwellers Wolves which should be an easy win.
Aston Villa should do enough to
stay up although they do face a difficult test at home to Spurs before
travelling to Carrow Road to take on Norwich who are in good form.
So the final relegation spot will
be between QPR and Bolton. QPR welcome Stoke City to Loftus Road before
travelling to Etihad Stadium to face a very difficult test in City fighting for
the EPL crown as mentioned earlier. Bolton welcome WBA to Reebok Stadium before
finishing the season at Britannia Stadium against Stoke. Given these clubs’
remaining fixtures, I would say Mark Hughes’ men will be going down. However,
if the club can hang on to their players like Bobby Zamora, Adel Taarabt, and
Djibril Cisse, QPR will be definite favourites to come straight back up next
season.
