Charles Jackson
The final day of the Premier League season is upon us and once again the title race will reach its final stages as just two points separate the league leaders. City of Manchester in Arsenal in second place. City will be headquarters West Ham United in David Moyes’ last game in charge of the club, while Arsenal will host Everton needing City to lose points.
Looking at the relegation, things are quite simple, while City of Luton single track Nottingham Forest by three points, the Hatters would need a miracle in the goal difference department, where they trail Forest by 12 goals. Even if Forest lost by five goals, Luton would still need to win by seven to close the gap and by eight to remain in the Premier League.
Jurgen Klopp will also manage his last game for Liverpool against wolves and Roberto DeZerbi will manage his last game for Brighton against Manchester United.
Last day schedule
All matches will begin at 11 a.m. Eastern
Liverpool vs. Wolverhampton (Peacock)
Sheffield United x Tottenham (Peacock)
City of Luton vs. Fulham (Peacock)
Brighton x Manchester United (CNBC and Fubo)
Manchester City x West Ham United (NBC and Fubo)
Arsenal vs Everton (US Network and Fubo)
Brentford vs. Newcastle United (Peacock)
Crystal Palace vs. Aston Villa (Peacock)
Burnley vs. Nottingham Forest (Peacock)
Chelsea vs. Bournemouth (Golf Channel and Fubo)
The race for the title
Manchester City have finally returned to the top of the league after beating Tottenham in midweek, marking a time when someone will be keeping an eye on their results as well as Arsenal’s. City are looking to win their fourth title in a row and sixth in the last seven seasons. Pep Guardiola’s dominance has been impressive and his former assistant coach Mikel Arteta is the one who can end this run. Arsenal finished second to City last season and have looked admirable title contenders for much of this season, but a team needs to be essentially perfect to topple Guardiola’s men. Only time will tell if this is the season that anyone joins Liverpool as the only other team not named City to win a title since Guardiola arrived in the Premier League. If City win, the title is theirs. Arsenal must win and make City lose points.
Pushing in the middle
With teams earning more money the higher they finish in the league and there being a slight jump when you get to 10th place where Brighton currently sit, it is significant that teams want to finish as high as possible in the table. People may refer to teams outside European races as being on the beach, but when 12th to 14th place are separated by just two points, those games will be important down the stretch. It’s similar between six and eight, where three points separate Chelsea from Manchester United, which will determine places in the Europa League and Europa Conference League. Whichever team finishes eighth will be the only team left out of the European game, so expect all three teams to do their best to not miss out.
Relegation
Gone are the days when teams needed 40 points to stay in the Premier League as the gap between the richest didn’t get bigger and bigger. Nottingham Forest could remain in the Championship with just 29 points, while Brentford could also not reach 40 points for the season. With all the recently promoted teams about to be relegated back to the Championship, it shows how difficult the transition from a good Championship team to a stable Premier League team is. Players from these teams may return to the Premier League but will still receive parachute payments to try and climb the ladder again.
Scenarios
To see all the scenes from Sunday’s action, please click here.
