The race to finish in the top five and qualify for next season’s Champions League is heating up with Chelsea, Liverpool, and Aston Villa dropping points – and Gary Neville has predicted who will miss out.
Despite Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, and Tottenham all losing in the Champions League over the last week, it is still expected that the Premier League will be awarded five places for next season’s competition.
That means the race for the Champions League is on. Arsenal and Man City will finish in the top two and it looks as if Man United will get third. It leaves Liverpool, Chelsea and Villa to battle for fourth and fifth.
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Chelsea players enter a huddle surrounding Referee Paul Tierney
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But all three sides are stuttering. Chelsea were beaten by Newcastle, but will have been relieved to see Aston Villa lose and Tottenham secure a late point at Anfield. Gary Neville predicts who will finish sixth.
Gary Neville thinks Aston Villa will fail to recover their form
Speaking on his Sky Sports podcast, having watched his old side Man United beat Aston Villa at Old Trafford, Neville believes Villa’s injuries will be too much for Unai Emery in the final eight league games.
“The only doubt I have is that Unai Emery knows how to get over the line. But what we’ve seen over the last couple of months, I’m not sure they can recover. Can Villa recover from what we’ve seen today.
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Aston Villa - Premier League
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“Can they recover to keep that Champions League away from United, Liverpool and Chelsea? I’m not sure. I think they’ll miss out and I think they’ll end up in the Europa League places,” Neville continued.
“But, it would be amazing if they went and won the Europa League and got into the Champions League, I want to see them in the Champions League next season. I like Unai Emery a lot, I like Aston Villa a lot.”
Opta predicts Chelsea will finish in sixth place as things stand
While Neville reckons Chelsea will finish in the top five and that should mean a Champions League place next season, the former Man United defender’s analysis is a stark contrast to what Opta are predicting.
How many points will be enough for fifth place?
Chelsea currently sit on 48 points.
The data-driven analyst predicts Chelsea to obtain 60.45 points come the end of the season, and that will be only enough for sixth place. At the moment, Chelsea have just 48 points after one win in five games.
If Chelsea are to recover from their recent poor form in the Premier League, they have to shore up the defence and get rid of the mistakes. Chelsea go to Everton on Saturday, after PSG on Tuesday night.
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