Chelsea and Fulham are eyeing European spotsChelsea and Fulham are eyeing European spots
Chelsea and Fulham are eyeing European spots | Getty Images
A look at the latest Opta predicted Premier League table as the top four race takes centre stage.
Chelsea and Fulham are both battling for European spots going into the final international break of the season. This is the final break, with nine games each remaining in the Premier League season.
Chelsea are currently in control of fourth spot, meaning they are on course for Champions League football, while fifth place may also be enough. As for Fulham, they are just four points off the top four, but they will take any kind of European football, and as low as eighth could be enough to get a Conference League spot this season.
Chelsea will like the look of their run-in, while Fulham have an extremely difficult one, and they are perhaps most disadvantaged of the whole top half as they look to land European football.
But there will surely be twists and turns aplenty between now and the end of the season, with a number of surprise results likely down the stretch, especially at this time of year when even the struggling teams are a big threat because of their desperation.
To get an insight in how the final table might look, we have taken a look at the latest Opta predicted Premier League table, and there is some bad news for both West London sides.
According to the table, Chelsea will miss out on Champions League football altogether, currently on track to finish sixth according to the data. It’s predicted they have a 27.37% chance of reaching the top four, that’s compared to Manchester City’s 58.44% rating and Newcastle United’s 30.44% chance.
It is close, however, with Chelsea predicted to finish on 63.34 points, which is to say between 63 and 64 points, while Newcastle are expected to have 63.95%, so they are in the same range.
Elsewhere, Fulham are expected to wind up with 55 or 56 points with 55.63 points expected, and that is only enough to get them to 10th place on the predicted final table. They are deemed to have just a 1.16% chance of landing Europa League football, while Aston Villa have 4.68% and Bournemouth have a likelihood of 3.63%.
Elsewhere in London, Crystal Palace are in 11th place, while Brentford are in 12th and Tottenham in 14th. West Ham are tipped to finish 16th, which would mean only Manchester United break up a run of five London clubs from 10th to 16th. Arsenal are tipped to finish second, as you would expect, likely to finish around 13 points off top spot, with a 1.02% chance of winning the title and a 99.82% chance of securing Champions League football.
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