Europe’s Runs Home

By Scott MacLean

Europe’s big football leagues are in the final stretch. Let’s take a look at the races, at both ends of the table.

English Premiership
Four matches left for most in the Premier League. Arsenal lead with 73 points, three ahead of Manchester City who have a game in hand on the Gunners, and both have near identical goal differences. City have Everton (A), Brentford (H), Bournemouth (A), Palace (H), and Aston Villa (H) to finish as well as the FA Cup Final with Chelsea, while Arsenal don’t even leave London with Fulham (H), West Ham (A), Burnley (H), and Palace (A) but have the complication of their Champions League tie with Atletico Madrid.

Manchester United, Liverpool, and Aston Villa occupy the remaining Champions League places, with eight points from the latter two back to Brighton.

At the bottom of the table Wolves and Burnley have already been relegated, with the third place occupying all sorts of interest. Which club with a glitzy stadium will go down? Tottenham on 34, or West Ham on 36? In theory even up to Palace in 13 th are at risk, but it seems more likely one of the London heavyweights is playing in the Championship next season.

English Championship
Speaking of the second-tier, still much to play for here too in the final round of matches. Frank Lampard’s Coventry City are champions and return to the Premier League for the first time since 2001, but who will join them automatically is still to be found. Ipswich Town could have sealed yesterday but drew 2-2 with Southampton. That leaves them a point ahead of Millwall and two ahead of Middlesbrough; Boro are away at Wrexham who are themselves fighting to hold onto a playoff place, Ipswich are at home against QPR, and Millwall host already-relegated Oxford.

Southampton are locked into a playoff place, with the fourth and final between Wrexham, Hull City, and Derby County. Oxford, Leicester City, and Sheffield Wednesday are already consigned to the drop.

France
Paris Saint-Germain hold a six-point edge over Lens in Ligue 1 with four matches left so seem set to add to their trophy cabinet. Behind those two there’s a decent scrap for the European places between Lyon, Lille, Rennes, Marseille, and Monaco.

Metz are already relegated, and Nantes need to bridge a five-point gap to Auxerre to avoid joining them.

Spain

Barcelona holds an eleven-point lead over old foes Real Madrid with five matches remaining in La Liga, so a change of fortunes of epic proportions would be needed to deny the Catalan’s another title. Villareal and Atletico Madrid hold the other European places, with a 10-point gap from the latter back to fifth-placed Real Betis.

At the other end of the table there’s little in the way of safety. Real Oviedo are seven points adrift of safety but have taken eight points from their last five matches. Levante and Sevilla are the other clubs in the relegation zone as of now, but only five points separates the latter on 34 points from Ray Vallecano on 39 in 11 th .

Italy
Four matches left in Serie A, and Inter hold a 10-point lead over pursuers Napoli. Inter could have wrapped up the Scudetto last week but could only draw, but you feel it’s only a matter of time.

Milan and Juventus currently hold the other Champions League places but are being chased all the way by Cesc Fabregas’ Como, and Roma.

Pisa and Verona could have their relegation to Serie B confirmed this weekend, while either Cremonese or Lecce will join them.

Germany
It’s already over in the Bundesliga, with Bayern Munich having wrapped up the Mannschaft.  Dortmund and Leipzig seem set to join them in the Champions League, with the fourth place subject to a three-way fight between Stuttgart, Hoffenheim, and Leverkusen. Heidenheim and Wolfsburg occupy the relegation places, with St Pauli looking to stay above them.

What other intrigue remains centres on Harry Kane. The England captain has 33 goals this season and while catching Robert Lewandowski’s record of 40 seems out of reach, he could join the few to have scored more goals than team matches played, and could outscore the next two on the league chart combined.

Netherlands
The Eredivisie crown is already off to Eindhoven with PSV having locked it away a fortnight ago. Feyenoord hold the second Champions League place, but with three games left have to fend off NEC Nijmegen, Ajax, and Twente for it.

Heracles are already down, and NAC Breda are five points behind Telstar to avoid joining them.

Scotland
The best race though is in Scotland. Not since Alex Ferguson’s Aberdeen in 1985-86 – forty years ago – has the title not been won by Celtic or Rangers. But the Old Firm are both chasing Hearts with four games left and with the final five matches played amongst the top six sides only there’s no easy outings left on the card. Hearts have 73 points, Celtic 70, and Rangers 69, and the title could go to the final day when Hearts visit Celtic and Rangers are at Falkirk.

The end of the season might be near, but there’s still much to be determined.

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