Manchester City and Liverpool are vying for the title and Chelsea are on their way to third place, with Man United, West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham ready to fight for the top four.
That stands, with Arsenal in fourth place and Wolves in eighth place sharing eight points, which looks like an exciting race to qualify for next season’s Champions League.
Here, we evaluate the runners and riders in the battle for the fourth, their form and their fixtures until the end of the season …
Table.
The fixtures.
Arsenal
Location: 4th
Games played: 28
Points: 54
Top-Four Sky Bet Differences: 1/2
Active Cup Competition: None
Arsenal have endured a tumultuous opening in the campaign, losing their first three matches to their worst start to a season in 67 years. They were the bottom of the Premier League under pressure from Michael Arteta, but the Spaniard oversaw a remarkable recovery at the Emirates Stadium.
Saturday’s 1-0 win over Aston Villa has given the Gunners a 10-game winning streak in the 10th Premier League, consolidating fourth place and strengthening their hold on Champions League qualifiers. Arsenal have conceded just eight goals in those 13 games.
Gary Neville explained his recent remarks that he did not “fully believe” them and said he now hopes Arteta’s team will finish fourth despite some complicated fixtures still to come.
“I said you can’t trust Arsenal completely because they haven’t delivered yet,” Neville recently said in Monday night’s football match.
“The pressure is on them now, in the sense that they are now in fourth place.
“I think they will finish fourth, but they still have Tottenham, they have got Manchester United to play.
“Now they have to go ahead and prove that we can all trust them, they can go and deliver Champions League football, which was against all expectations at the start of the season.”
Main fixtures: Brighton (H) – Saturday 9 April; Kick off at 3 p.m., Chelsea (A) – Wednesday 20 April; Kick-off 7.45pm – Live on Sky Sports, Manchester United (H) – Saturday 23 April; Kick off 12.30pm, West Ham (A) – Sunday 1 May; Kick-off at 4.30 pm – Live Sky Sports, Tottenham (A) – TBC
Tottenham
Location: 5th
Games played: 29
Points: 51
Top-Four Sky Bet Differences: 9/4
Active Cup Competition: None
Tottenham had a string of wins and losses in each of their last seven games but were able to post a Premier League win for the first time with a win against West Ham before the international break in 2022.
Defender Eric Deere thinks there has been a clear improvement in performance.
“I can’t hide the fact that the run has taken over my mind, it has affected the minds of all of us, and it’s really important for us to finish it before the international break,” he said.
“I think despite the results, you can see that we’ve really improved a lot in the last few months, even if you look at the Man Utd game and the Burnley game, they weren’t what we wanted, but I think they were better than what you saw before. Different performance. ”
Main fixtures: Brighton (H) – Saturday 16 April; Kick off 12.30pm, Lester (H) – Saturday 30 April; Kick off at 3 p.m., Liverpool (A) – Saturday 7 May; Kick off at 3 p.m., Arsenal (H) – TBC
Manchester United
Location: 6th
Games played: 29
Points: 50
Top-Four Sky Bet Differences: 11/2
Active Cup Competition: None
United will end a fifth consecutive season without a trophy as the club finds itself at another turning point. Hopes of winning the Champions League have always been slim, and Atletico Madrid’s failure to land gloves has seen them humbly lose in the Round of 16.
After being runners-up in the Premier League and losing on penalties in the Europa League final, hopes for further improvement under Ole Gunnar Solskozar were sparked by the summer acquisitions of Jadon Sancho, Rafael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo.
But they were knocked out of the Carabao Cup in September, then humbled on home soil near Liverpool and Manchester City, with Watford losing 4-1 to Solskjজr in November. Interim boss Ralph Rangnik has only lost two Premier League games but has had many draws and isolated displays, as well as being out of the FA Cup and Champions League.
The club have now won just two Champions League knockout matches in the last decade – a time when their total transfer costs have been estimated at £ 1.4 billion. United are now less likely to qualify for next year’s competition as Rangini’s Jekyll and Hyde are fifth in the standings, four points behind an Arsenal team that prides itself on a game in hand.
A high-profile United club went for an interim appointment in November that told everything about the long-term plans of a club whose interests are well documented by Ajax’s Eric Ten Hague and Paris Saint-Germain boss Mauricio Pochettino. Thomas Tuchel’s name has also been mentioned since the trouble started at Chelsea.
Football director John Mortoff and technical director Darren Fletcher want to make an appointment before the summer so that a foundation can be laid. If performance does not improve, the club could even be knocked out of the Europa Conference League or dropped out of European football for the first time since finishing seventh in 2013/14.
Main fixtures: Lester (H) – Saturday 2 April; Kick-off at 5.30 pm – Live Sky Sports, Liverpool (A) – Tuesday 19 April; 8pm Kick-Off – Live on Sky Sports, Arsenal (A) – Saturday 23 April; Kick off 12.30pm, Chelsea (H) – Sunday 15 May; Kick-off at 3 p.m.
West Ham
Location: 7th
Games played: 30
Points: 48
Top-Four Sky Bet Differences: 50/1
Active Cup Competition: Europa League
West Ham had a great start to the season. Under David Moyes, the Hammers were flying high and looking like real contenders for the top four. Despite home wins against Liverpool and Chelsea, they were somewhat upset by successive defeats to Wolves and Man City in November before a series of defeats to Arsenal and Southampton in December.
Although they responded well, and wins against Watford, Crystal Palace and Norwich have firmly put them back in the race to qualify for the Champions League. But after losing to Manchester United on 22 January, they finished fourth over the weekend where Arsenal dropped points and Tottenham lost to Chelsea.
A brief win against Watford got them back on track, but subsequent draws against Leicester and Newcastle saw them stumble into their top-four bid before a round in February with three important points to European rivals Wolves.
The defeat to Tottenham before the international break, which sealed the Europa League quarter-final progress, was described as a “good week” for the club. That could be their best bet in next season’s Champions League.
West Ham’s run-in of the season looks clever, with Chelsea and Brighton set to come on tour. They face Arsenal and Man City at home. West Ham will have to make a difficult path to reach the top four.
Main fixtures: Chelsea (A) – Sunday 24 April; Kick-off at 2pm – live on Sky Sports, Arsenal (H) – Sunday 1 May; Kick-off at 4.30 pm – Live Sky Sports, City of people (H) – Sunday 15 May; Kick off at 3 p.m., Brighton (A) – Sunday 22 May, kick-off 4pm.
The wolf
Location: 8th
Games played: 30
Points: 46
Top-Four Sky Bet Differences: 500/1
Active Cup Competition: None
Three wins in a row under new manager Bruno Ledge gave the Wolves a slim opening season that placed them 18th in the league. One of those losses came against Nuno Espirito Santor Tottenham, who left last season to take charge of the North London club.
However, with impressive wins against Aston Villa, West Ham and Brighton, Ledge has oversaw the improvement of his team’s form. Although they are the third-lowest scoring team in the division with 24 Premier League goals, their defensive nausea is a key element in their rise to the table. They have conceded just 21 times this season, a record only surpassed by Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea.
Their start in 2022 was impressive with a series of victories against Manchester United, Southampton and Brentford.
Home and away defeats to Arsenal were catastrophic, but they reacted with losses to the Gunners at Molinex as well as significant wins against Tottenham and Leicester that kept the Wolves firmly in search of European qualification.
The Midlands club are back on track with successive wins against Watford and Everton – but a dramatic 3-2 home defeat to Leeds on Friday night means the Europa League berth is now increasingly likely to be the limit of their aspirations.
After the Leeds loss, Ledge said: “We play the way we should at home. We controlled the game from the first minute, we dominated everything. We know Leeds are strong under pressure, but we control and manage the ball.
“We created a lot of opportunities and could have scored more goals. We have to be big. We needed to kill the game.
“For 45 minutes with good football, I’ve probably seen the best from us this season. Goals and opportunities and I am proud of my players. “
Main fixtures: Brighton (H) – Saturday 30 April; Kick-off 3pm; Chelsea (A) – Saturday 7 May; Kick-off 3pm; Liverpool (A) – Sunday 22 May; Kick-off at 4 p.m. City of people (H) – TBC
Watch the Champions League qualifying race unveiled live on Sky Sports.
