After defeating Manchester United 2 - 4 at Old Trafford on Thursday night, Liverpool closed the gap to just four points with a game in hand to Chelsea, who currently occupy the last Champions League spot
Jurgen Klopp accepted that Liverpool’s final four outings in the Premier League this season would be like playing four finals. After falling behind in the early stages of the game, The Reds managed to score two goals before half-time, thanks to a heel flick from Jota and a Roberto Firmino header. Firmino, who has been out of form and was on a 15-game goal drought before this match scored a second right at the start of the second half. Marcus Rashford scored to keep the game alive and make it 2 – 3 on the night, after a brilliant pass from Edison Cavani. United were going all out to find that vital third goal and settle for a point but things got worse for them as Mo Salah scored a brilliant counter-attacking goal to seal the game and keep Liverpool alive in the race for a crucial UEFA Champions League spot.
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As a result, Liverpool now find themselves in fifth spot with sixty points on the table and are currently four points behind Chelsea and six points behind Leicester City with a game in hand. The Reds remaining fixtures are West Brom (away), Burnley (away), and Crystal Palace (home) and should be confident of grabbing all nine available points. The main target for Liverpool here is to win all the remaining three fixtures if they want to qualify for the Champions League next season & if they succeed in doing so, they’ll find themselves on sixty-nine points and sure of a top four spot.
Leicester City meanwhile face Chelsea next week at Stamford Bridge before hosting Spurs at home for their final game of the season while the Blues take on Aston Villa. A single defeat for Leicester in their remaining two games could put Liverpool in the UCL next season ahead of the Foxes on goal difference and so is the case for Chelsea.
The Chelsea vs Leicester City game therefore is of utmost importance in the race for the top four this season. The team that drops points in this fixture could possibly give away their Champions League spot to Liverpool, that is only if the Reds win all of their remaining fixtures.
This is how the Premier League table could look at the end of the season:
(considering all three teams win their remaining fixtures, excluding Chelsea vs Leicester)
RANK | IF CHELSEA WIN vs LEICESTER | POINTS |
#3 | Chelsea | 70 |
#4 | Liverpool | 69* |
#5 | Leicester | 69 |
*Liverpool could qualify on GD |
RANK | IF LEICESTER WIN vs CHELSEA | POINTS |
#3 | Leicester | 72 |
#4 | Liverpool | 69 |
#5 | Chelsea | 67 |
RANK | IF LEICESTER & CHELSEA DRAW | POINTS |
#3 | Leicester | 70 |
#4 | Liverpool | 69 |
#5 | Chelsea | 68 |
[Image Credit: Premier League]
Shashank Iyer