After two early matches of round 34 in midweek, the situation of the group competing for tickets to play in the European Cup in the Premier League has been chaotic. Man City directly defeated Aston Villa at home, thereby pushing their opponent to the lowest position in this race.
Opta supercomputer predicts Liverpool will be champions. The next positions are Arsenal, Manchester City, Nottingham Forest and Newcastle United respectively.
The two recent victories of Pep Guardiola's team have helped them increase their season-ending percentage in 3rd place, from 26% to 52%. Therefore, The Citizens have relieved a lot of pressure before entering the FA Cup semi-final this weekend against Nottingham.
According to Opta's prediction, Nottingham will have about 13% chance of finishing the season out of the Top 5 (not playing in the Champions League). This rate is very low but not too small to be impossible.
Nottingham's schedule is making this team in a difficult state. They have reached the FA Cup semi-finals so they cannot help but play their best. However, if he does, the Premier League could be affected if a few injuries occur.
Chelsea and Newcastle are having more free time. Newcastle have won the League Cup and are now focusing on their best to win a Champions League ticket. Meanwhile, Chelsea have reached the Conference League semi-finals but in this arena, The Blues may not need to try their best to achieve their goal.
For Man City, Pep Guardiola's team still maintained a stable performance at the end of the season. The only difference is that they will compete for the championship every year while this season they are racing to get a ticket to the Champions League.
After a period of crisis, especially without the service of Erling Haaland in attack, Man City is still standing firm. Seeing Pep celebrating enthusiastically when City beat Villa in the middle of the week, we can see how strong the defending champions' desire is.
Aston Villa have missed the opportunity to break through this race. Before losing to Man City at the Etihad Stadium in midweek, they surprisingly crushed Newcastle to 4-1 in the victory at Villa Park.
The match against City in midweek also left a regret for Unai Emery and his team when they lost in the second half's extra time. Although they did not win, if they had 1 point at the Etihad, Villa's position in this group would have a much better advantage when their direct opponent, Man City, was also held back.
Every year, Tottenham and Man United will squeeze into this group, but currently, both are struggling in the bottom half of the rankings. M.U and Spurs are both trying their best to win the Europa League, so any race with them in the Premier League at the moment is meaningless.
