With a commanding 13-point lead at the summit, many have already anointed Liverpool as the Premier League champions-elect, while Arsenal appear poised to secure a runner-up finish for the third year running.
However, the contest for the remaining two Champions League qualification spots is highly competitive, with just six points separating third and tenth place in the table. ..Continue Reading
Nottingham Forest and Manchester City currently hold those coveted positions, with Chelsea, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Brighton, Fulham, and Aston Villa all in close pursuit.
It’s worth noting that due to the exceptional performance of English clubs in European competitions this season, the Premier League is likely to receive an additional UCL spot, meaning that a fifth-place finish might be enough to qualify.
Nottingham Forest have been the surprise package this season, defying preseason predictions of a relegation battle. Nuno Espirito Santo has done an outstanding job at the City Ground.
Nevertheless, Merson doesn’t believe they can keep the momentum up, with the Arsenal legend telling Sky Sports: ‘There’s a lot of teams in there. I still think Fulham are in there and Aston Villa, they’ve just got to get a run together.
‘Chelsea were seventh in midweek. They beat Southampton and Forest failed to beat Arsenal.
‘Forest have got Man City next week and Chelsea have got Leicester at home. If Chelsea beat them and Forest fail to win, then Chelsea are above them with 10 games to go. But then Chelsea’s games get difficult.
‘I think there will be a shock. I don’t think it will be plain sailing.’
Chelsea’s run-in includes tricky games like Arsenal (A), Tottenham (H), Fulham (A), Liverpool (H), Newcastle (A) and crucially Forest (A) on the lastday of the campaign.
Asked which team would provide the shock and join Liverpool, Arsenal and Man City in the top four, Merson said: ‘If I’d have sat here last Saturday, I would have said Bournemouth 100 per cent.
‘Wolves at home and Brighton away, I fancied them to get at least four points from those two games. They’ve got some nice fixtures coming up. Then they go and get no points out of those two games.
‘It changes. I would probably say Newcastle would take Forest’s position at the moment.’
Back in mid-December, Chelsea appeared to be strong title contenders after a stellar start under new head coach Enzo Maresca. However, their form has dramatically declined since then, managing to win only three of their last 11 league games.
Merson had earlier suggested that Maresca could face the sack if he fails to secure a win against relegation-threatened Leicester next Sunday. Before that, Chelsea must first deal with a Conference League match against FC Copenhagen on Thursday.
While Merson currently favors Newcastle to secure a top-four finish, the two-time Arsenal title winner believes the race is wide open.
He was particularly surprised that Opta’s supercomputer had given Fulham just a 0.99 percent chance of making the top four.
‘No! No!’ Merson exclaimed upon seeing Opta’s predictions, which put Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City and Nottingham in the top four.
‘We did this midweek before Tuesday’s games and Fulham were one per cent. Now they’ve gone down and they’ve just won at Wolves. How’s that work?!’
