Top Four Race Goes to the Wire After Chelsea's Win Over Leicester

Chelsea
Chelsea players celebrate after beating Leicester City on Tuesday night
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The race of the top four in the English Premier League will go down to the wire after Chelsea beat Leicester City 2-1 on Tuesday night to move to third on the log.

Chelsea now need to beat Aston Villa on the final day to seal a Champions League spot. They can still play in the competition next if they beat Manchester City in the Champions League final on May 29 and finish fifth in the league table.

Liverpool and Leicester could be separated by goal difference if they win their games but that hugely depends on how the Reds perform on Wednesday night when they face Burnley at Turf Moor.

If Liverpool beat Burnley and Crystal Palace by one goal each, Leicester would need to beat Tottenham 3-0 on the final day. They would need to win by more if the Reds get bigger victories in either game.

There are huge similarities between last season and this campaign for Leicester, who have spent a large period of those two years in the top four places.

When football paused because of the first Covid lockdown, Leicester were eight points clear of fifth place.

They would only win one of their nine games after the Premier League restarted and dropped out on the penultimate day.

This season at the same stage they were also eight points above fifth place (and 13 above Liverpool, who had one game in hand).

If Liverpool beat Burnley on Wednesday, the Foxes will again drop out of the top four with all the teams having played the same number of games.

Brendan Rodgers, the Leicester City Manager admits that it will be tight and hopes that Sunday brings in the slight hopes of making it to Europe’s top most club competition.

"We said it all along, the players have had a great season but it would have to be after 38 games," said Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers.

"We have to get the points on Sunday then see where we are. If we don't get in the Champions League it has still been a great season."

The FA Cup win would, of course, make this season's potential collapse easier to take - it still makes it the second best season in Leicester's history.

Liverpool play the Clarets and Eagles in their last two fixtures and it is only them who can stop Jurgen Klopp’s charges from qualifying for the Champions League.

Race for Top Four

Chelsea's remaining game: Sunday - Aston Villa (a).

Leicester's remaining game: Sunday - Tottenham (h).

Liverpool's remaining two games: Wednesday - Burnley (a); Sunday - Crystal Palace (h).