LIVERPOOL: Liverpool could seal the Premier League on Sunday should the runaway leaders condemn Leicester City to relegation and Arsenal suffer a Champions League hangover by losing at Ipswich Town.
Victory for the Gunners at Portman Road could also see Ipswich mathematically relegated should West Ham United and Wolverhampton Wanderers win.
Unlike the battles for the league title and to avoid the drop, the race for a place in next season’s Champions League is set to go down to the wire.
Just five points separate Newcastle United in third from seventh-placed Aston Villa ahead of their clash at Villa.
Thirteen points clear at the top of the table with six games to go, it is only a question of when not if Liverpool will move level with Manchester United on a record 20 English top-flight titles.
Two more wins will finish the job for Arne Slot’s men and they could not ask for more obliging fixtures as a trip to beleaguered Leicester is followed by struggling Tottenham Hotspur’s trip to Anfield.
However, the title race may not even go beyond Easter Sunday should Ipswich inflict Arsenal’s first league defeat since February.
The focus of attention for Mikel Arteta’s men has been switched to Champions League glory after an emphatic 5-1 aggregate win over holders Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, Southampton’s return to the Championship at the first time of asking was confirmed in record time with seven games remaining.
Leicester and Ipswich have not fared much better to spark concerns over the growing chasm between the Premier League and the second tier.
For the second consecutive season all three promoted clubs are set to be relegated.
Leicester, who shocked the world to win the title less than a decade ago, have endured a miserable campaign, especially since Ruud van Nistelrooy was installed as manager.
The Foxes have taken just four points from their last 17 matches to fall 17 points adrift of safety.
Ipswich’s approach has earned more admirers but they have also won only four league games all season to sit just three points better off than Leicester.
VILLA CRAVE CL RETURN
Both Villa and Newcastle are hungry for more after having a taste of the Champions League for the first time in decades over the past two seasons.
Villa’s first foray into European football’s elite level for the first time since 1983 finally came to an end in a thrilling 5-4 aggregate defeat to Paris St-Germain in the quarter-finals on Tuesday.
Unai Emery, who also led the Birmingham club to the Europa Conference League semi-finals last season, is determined to take the 1982 European champions even further.
Four consecutive Premier League wins have propelled Emery’s men back into contention for a top-five finish, that will be enough for Champions League qualification.
“The more demanding objective we can have is to get again Champions League,” said Emery.
“The challenge we have now is for the last six matches we are going to play, try to get Europe and try to get Champions League.”
Villa face a daunting run in with their next four games against competitors for the European places in Newcastle, Manchester City, Bournemouth and Fulham.
Newcastle are flying as five consecutive league wins either side of lifting the League Cup has taken the Magpies into third.
Eddie Howe is set to miss a third match due to pneumonia, but Newcastle showed little sign of missing their manager in scoring nine goals in dominant wins over Manchester United and Crystal Palace in the past week.
Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2025
