In this balance of power, you first have to mention Manchester United as the team currently favoured to finish third or fourth in the Premier League. That would guarantee a return to the Champions League after a long absence.
Even fifth place should secure Champions League football. For the second season in a row, English clubs have performed strongly in Europe, and the coefficient has increased, which should again be enough for five English teams to qualify for the elite competition.
The 5th position will be a Champions League spot in the Premier League.
If English clubs continue progressing in Europe, as Newcastle did earlier yesterday, the coefficient will officially confirm that advantage for this campaign as well. Which will lead to a 5th position to be a Champions League spot in the Premier League.
Sixth position rule:
Sixth position will not be a Champions League spot for sure because the rules are two leagues, with the best results having one position each.
So the second league behind England in terms of success will earn one extra position in the Champions League. That means England can not have two extra positions that lead to Champions League football. Only one, and it is a certain matter.
As we have been reporting previously.
The clubs involved in this battle:
When we speak about the race for fourth and fifth place, although Aston Villa FC are currently third, it is realistic that they remain in a direct battle with Chelsea FC, Liverpool FC and Manchester United for those Champions League spots. Their current position is important, but the advantage can quickly disappear.
Since they are not compact and lost title chances.
Manchester United has the greatest chance of achieving its goals in the battle for the Champions League. They are favourites without a debut.
At this moment, Manchester United are in the best position. Their commitment, defensive organisation and disciplined structure — especially in the win against Everton FC — brought a huge result.
Maybe they are not the best in terms of the roster, but they are playing well collectively with great effort to achieve good results. They have a desire and are so great as a team. They have great collective performances, just like against Arsenal or Everton this week. Cunha is maybe not the best player in the Premier League, but his efforts make a difference.
The Arsenal-Manchester United derby was beautiful.
It showed the beauty of football.
Arsenal vs Manchester United’s debut was a moment when Arteta had 4, or 5 perfect players from the bench, while Michael Carrick had only Cunha on the bench. He has given him a chance, and he scored a winning goal. While Arteta had nameless possibilities.
It shows why football is a beautiful sport.
And it was done by Michael Carrick and Manchester United.
Manchester United may not have the strongest bench. They may not have the best individual squad among the contenders. But through collective effort, compact defensive positioning and strong individual defensive performances, they are finding ways to win.
They are impressive.
The way United defended in their recent league match was textbook material. Their structure and collective spirit neutralised Everton’s attacking threats. The defensive reaction before the goal by Cunha and the forward ball that initiated the decisive action caught the opponent off guard.
How did they overcome Everton?
Cunha may not be the best player in his position, but his work rate and desire made the difference. From the bench, the only serious attacking option was Benjamin Šeško, and once he entered, Mbeumo finally had support in attack — and that support delivered a goal.
Despite limited solutions available, the manager still managed to secure victory. United’s intensity and hunger overpowered Everton and delivered extremely important points in the Top 4 race.
Rosenior in Chelsea is doing everything for Cole Palmer, who is awful. Extremely underperforming!
But the game is being built on him?
What about Enzo Fernadez, who is the best Chelsea player this season?
On the other side, Chelsea looked disjointed. After missing big chances against Leeds, Palmer continued in the same way. He started again but struggled. Instead of allowing Enzo Fernández, arguably Chelsea’s best player this season, to control decisive moments, Palmer twice took the ball from Fernández in key situations and shot inaccurately. Very inaccurately.
It became a one-man approach in attack. Chelsea looked disconnected, without structure or balance, and even with ten men, they retreated deep against Burnley. Manchester United are everything Chelsea currently is not — and that gives them a major advantage in the race for the decisive positions.
The Rubén Amorim traces are there!
Former manager Ruben Amorim has made players better individually and tactically. So they know what to do in hard battles. He has significantly improved the players. He prepared the players for big things with his hard work at Old Trafford.
Chelsea defenders will go worse. By the pressure.
Chelsea’s defensive inconsistency has become a chronic issue now. January activity in the transfer market, including the arrival of Sarr, has not been enough. It is too easy to score against them; opponents do not need sustained pressure to break their last line.
Rosenior relies only on structural defending, and luck saved Chelsea from conceding a second or third goal against Burnley FC. Burnley had three clear-headed chances — one accurate, two narrowly missed — and goalkeeper Sánchez had only luck again.
Chelsea will soon have even more defensive issues, and it will escalate with the importance of the fixtures, as their defensive line will be called amateurish. The new manager, Liam Rosenior, was put in such a hard situation concerning defence and the defensive line. While Chelsea defenders can do even worse.
Chelsea, which is such a great club, has not taken the defiance seriously. And it has been a trying transfer window since they have not bought a proper defender or even two proper defenders. Rosenior was left bahid and the club will pay this extra and in many ways.
While Manchester United defend collectively and individually with authority and resilience, Chelsea’s defence looks fragile and chaotic. At this stage of the season, that will be fatal — especially because the club did not strengthen the defensive line in January, and the defenders can’t do any better. Their defensive level is poor, and Chelsea is in serious trouble.
Chelsea true disaster.
Manchester United is going to win 90 minutes to beat their rivals, while Chelsea is using their approach with Palmer, who missed a clear chance for Chelsea at 2:2 against Leeds. They are relying on him while creating another new position for Enzo Fernandez, who has been Chelsea’s best player this season.
Enzo Fernández should be mainly asked about the offence at Chelsea. His players over the season have been the best. Instead, we are watching hard Cole Palmer’s offensive disasters all given by Rosenior.
With an extremely inexperienced squad with such young players, the situation at Chelsea is not surprising.
The manager is so inexperienced, but the true trouble will be there when Chelsea defenders are under Maresca’s star, being under great pressure.
Under pressure, they are the worst of the worst.
Chelsea defenders are worst then worst.
The individual defective errors will be multiplied, and those are players who do not have a quality. It will be hard to see.
Then the question will be asked about what Enzo Maresca was doing, who was creating this Chelsea team for years? What was he doing with defenders?
And other positions. Also.
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