Betting post
Who will grab 3rd and 4th places in the final Premier League table?
Here we take a look at the battle between Tottenham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United for the final two Champions League qualification places.
With four Champions League places up for grabs, the scramble for finishing third and fourth in the Premier League at the end of the season has never been more frantic. Liverpool and Manchester City will, of course, finish first and second. Whichever one takes top spot still remains to be seen and will probably go to the wire.
But with six points and games in hand still to play out, it could be any two out of four teams that make up third and fourth. The four are Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United, and Spurs. There is not much to choose between them but even so, the betting odds range from around 1/14 to 5/1. Choosing the best bet will not be easy, and it may be that a going for a pool betting solution would be beneficial.
Tottenham are in pole position with a two point cushion in third ahead of Chelsea with Arsenal a further two points adrift. However, manager Mauricio Pochettino may be tempted to give other squad members opportunities in the Premiership in order to prevent his best players getting injured and not being available for their Champions League semi-final with Dutch side Ajax, so this could lead to them dropping more points during their final two matches.
Although nothing in football is ever clear cut, the team with the longest odds and the ones most likely to miss out are Manchester United. New manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær, has done a great job at making the Red Devils serious contenders for a fourth-place finish.
However, they have hit a rough patch at the worst possible time and after losing to a Manchester City side that are still on for the treble, they drew with Chelsea on Sunday to leave them sixth in the table. Add to that the fact that there are also strong rumours that their French midfield star, Paul Pogba, is still looking to leave the club. This will also cause some unrest in their squad.
But United will be buoyed by the fact that none of their rivals are playing well with Arsenal and Tottenham both losing at the weekend and Chelsea still just three points ahead in fourth after the draw at Old Trafford. All in all, it is going to be a very close fight to finish in the top four with just five points separating third from sixth as we head into the final two matches of the season.
