English Premiership – the battle for the 4th place

Apart from the interesting tussle for the Barclays Premier League title between Chelsea and Manchester United, another interesting battle in the world of English Football is taking place for the fourth spot, i.e. for qualification to the UEFA Champions League. While voters on the official EPL site, www.premierleague.com are convinced that Chelsea will be crowned winners (watch this space for more on the Chelsea v/s Man U for the title) another pertinent question is, which other teams will qualify for the UEFA Champions League next season. Arsenal, currently on 72 points from 37 games currently on the 3^rd spot have already qualified for the Champions League. Liverpool's loss this Sunday to Chelsea at Ainfield means that they are out of contention. Aston Villa on 64 points in 37 games might have had an outside chance, but the Goal Difference is not in their favour.

So it all boils down to Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City. Tottenham have 67 points from 36 games and play their contenders for fourth place, Manchester City on Wednesday (i.e. today) at Eastlands. A win for Tottenham will give them an unassailable four point lead over Manchester City and entry into the elite UEFA Champions League Football tournament. Manager Redknapp of Tottenham wants his team to put the "big-three", Man U, Chelsea and Arsenal, on notice with this season's performances. In fact if they win their last 2 games, and Arsenal lose their last, then Tottenham have a chance to finish this season on third place! Players to watch out for the Hotspurs will be Luka Modric, Tom Huddlestone, while Johnson, Tevez Bellamy and Adebayor will have to play a prominent role if Manchester City were to win tonight. Promises to be a humdinger this!