Race for the Champions League is still on

With 36 games on the board we are no closer to a champion, only a point standing between flip-flopping leaders Manchester City and rivals to the crown Liverpool. Will we see The Citizens defy the trends and successfully regain their bauble, becoming one of only a few sides who have banked two-
in-a-row, or will The Reds bring back the glory days for fans?

There’s a generation of Liverpool supporters who have never seen their club lift the title, but that could all change in the coming weeks as Klopp’s crew battle for supremacy.

All eyes focus on the race for top spot at the head table of English football but there’s an intriguing battle going on in behind as four sides try to squeeze into the two remaining Champions League slots. Tottenham sit third on 70 points but have lost two of their last three and have a Champions
League semi-final to contend with. Manchester United – rejuvenated following the appointment of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – are down in sixth but trail Pochettino and co by just five points. At last count, Chelsea and Arsenal fill the gap between the pair. One of these giants will fall from the Champions
League top four qualification spots.

Spurs are running painfully low on numbers, but they appear to have done enough to sneak a top-four place and bank the Champions League qualification that comes with it, leaving it as a three-way battle for the one place still up for grabs. Either Chelsea, Arsenal or Man Utd will play in Europe’s
elite footballing competition next season, leaving the other two stuck in the Europa League, a competition that doesn’t command anywhere near the same level of interest with fans of the big clubs, and the prize money involved is much smaller too.

You would imagine a look at the current Premier League table would show three or four sides fighting tooth and nail to land a top-four finish but, at the time of writing, the form of the clubs involved suggests it’s a race no one wants to win.

Tottenham in third have lost two of three, fourth placed Chelsea lost one and drew two of their three most recent outings, Arsenal lost three on the bounce and Man Utd lost two and drew one. That makes things even more difficult for punters looking to invest their cash on a bet to finish in the top-four this season.

A brief check of the updated market shows there’s still plenty of value available if sticking your neck on the line, with UK's top betting sites seemingly at a loss to call how this ugly war will end.

Between the three London sides involved they have a combined one win over the last three rounds of fixtures, while The Red Devils appear to have lost their edge after Solskjaer’s job was made permanent. The board had hoped the security would help drive the players on to success, but it has had  the opposite effect, many of the top performers losing the edge that made them so dangerous since Mourinho headed for the exit door.

The current Premier League outright betting has Man City as 1/5 nailed on favourites for the crown with bet365, while traders at the same firm expect Liverpool to fall short and will offer 7/2 to anyone bold enough to disagree with their stance.

In the top-four betting the quotes would have you believe Spurs have done their bit and can now concentrate on the Champions League semi-finals. There’s no better than 1/14 on the Londoners – based at their impressive new home – earning a top-four berth. The betting opens up after that and we see Chelsea next in line and favourites for fourth at 2/5, Arsenal’s chances fading at 23/10 and Man Utd look to have already run their race, as big as 11/1 offered about them staging a late smash- and-grab on the major positions.

At the bottom of the table, we know Huddersfield and Fulham are already relegated and the money men believe it’s just a matter of time before Cardiff are confirmed as joining them in the Championship next season. The Bluebirds have lost four of their last five and each of their last two and are four  points off safety with six left to play for. That hands the advantage to Brighton in 17th, although The Seagulls must build on a couple of draws in their last two league games if they want to see off the Welsh club.