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Top 4 Race: Can Liverpool Still Catch Up?

Liverpool, Tottenham and maybe even Southampton have a chance, a slim one at that of making it into the 4th Champions League position. The three clubs are chasing down Manchester City who are 7 points clear of the 5th place team Liverpool. Liverpool might have had a poor outing against Aston Villa will be looking to correct that with a confident display against West Bromwich Albion in the weekend and with a game in hand over Manchester City, they need to make sure that the game counts for the Reds as they chase Champions League glory.

Champions League or nothing

While Arsenal and Chelsea are more or less guaranteed to get into the Champions League next season, the two clubs from Manchester have one foot in. Manchester United have been excellent in the second half of the season and hold an 8-point advantage over the fifth placed team Liverpool. They do have a few tough games to face as they play, with trips to Everton and Crystal Palace and also a tricky tie against Arsenal being their penultimate game of the season. United might hold an 8-point cushion but if they lose out in 2 of these games, the pressure could well be back on them.

Manchester City have had one unbelievably poor season, they somehow have managed to wipe away a lead and now are fourth in a two-horse race for the title, it has been a shocking decline for a team filled with so many star players on big contracts. Manchester City do face easier games till the end of the season and probably the one tough game that does stand out is the trip against Tottenham, if they do lose that game, the 4th place position could be up for grabs come the last day of the season.

Liverpool Kolo Toure Mignolet
Liverpool

The only possible team to challenge the 4th spot for the Champions League is Liverpool, they have the easier set of fixtures apart from a trip to Chelsea but hat game could come to naught if Chelsea wrap up the title before the end of the season, Liverpool must win all their games to have any chance of making it into the top four or else it could be another long season before they reach the Champions League again and even that is no guarantee.

The FA Cup loss for Liverpool actually showed their short comings more than anything else; they were insipid, poor and dire and were easily taken out by an Aston Villa side which had played poor football for most of the season. The losses to United and Arsenal might have hurt but the performance against Aston Villa was so dire and lethargic, it could have been the worst Liverpool have played against any team since Rodgers had taken them over 3 years ago. Liverpool still have a slim chance at making it into the top 4, at least more than Tottenham or Southampton who have played the same number of games as Manchester City and Manchester United. Unless there is a major slip up by either Manchester City or Manchester United, there would be two clubs from London and Manchester United and they play in Red and Blue.