Premier League top five race predicted as five clubs eye Champions League places

Five into three doesn’t go, as any sultan of arithmetic will know, and the race for football has never been tighter.

We all know who’s won the title, we all know who’s finishing second as usual and we all know who’s going down.

But with an extra place for English clubs in next season’s Champions League, the scramble for top-five places - and up to £83 million for a place at Europe’s top table - is riddled with intrigue.

, , , and are the five on a treasure hunt, and here Mirror Football delivers the verdict on who makes the cut - and who will end up in the Thursday night purgatory of the .

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MANCHESTER CITY

It’s not just an elephant in the room - it’s Dumbo and his entire pachyderm tribe. If those 115 charges against Manchester City are upheld, they should be nearer the National League than Champions League next season.

But on the pitch, even in their darkest moments this season, it has never really been in doubt: City were always going to finish in the top four.

When all is said and done, they are still the division’s second top scorers behind and Pep’s mob still pull a big result out of the fire when it’s needed most - as Villa found out the other night. It is inconceivable that City will not take enough points off , , and to finish above the dotted line.

But let’s not sugar-coat it: Their biggest result this year - if the ever get round to announcing it - rests in the hands of m’learned friends.

VERDICT: Third

Who will finish in the Champions League places?

NOTTINGHAM FOREST

Manager of the season is nailed on to be that Dutch geezer with the temple dome who’s won the title at Anfield, right? But hang on - if wins the and leads Forest into the Champions League, surely he’s worked the greatest miracle since the biblical Master Chef who turned five loaves and two fish into a feast for 5,000 people.

Neither is a done deal yet - but miracles don’t come much bigger than saving Forest from relegation on the last day of the season and infiltrating the top five just 12 months later.

And 19-goal top scorer Chris Wood, the Kiwi target man who’s become the unlikeliest crown jewel in the Premier League, has now scored more Premier League goals than Dennis Bergkamp.

It could all come down to a winner-takes-all crunch date with Chelsea on May 25 for Nuno the Nino, but neutrals would love to see two-time European Cup winners Forest make an encore on the big stage.

VERDICT: Just making the cut

NEWCASTLE

Canonisation of modern-day saints is a rare phenomenon, but is already assured of his place among the Geordie nation’s football gods.

After delivering the Toon’s first trophy in 56 years, Howe is well-placed to turn an historic season into a gilded one by leading Newcastle back into Europe’s elite. A heavy defeat at Aston Villa will not have helped the convalescing Magpies messiah in his recovery from pneumonia.

And the last three games against , Chelsea and will be rugged sequels to flowers, grapes and get-well cards. But Newcastle’s run-in starts with what should be a banker home win against doomed Ipswich this weekend, and 11 points from the last five games should be enough to avoid the booby prize of Thursday nights scattered across the continent next season. Get well soon, Eddie.

VERDICT: Fourth

CHELSEA

They celebrated a great escape at Craven Cottage as if they had seized the keys to Europe itself. But for, the biggest hazard is not Chelsea’s daunting run-in, including away games at top-five rivals Newcastle and Nottingham Forest - the greatest danger lies within.

Blues fans remain at a tipping point where they are ready to turn on Maresca if he turns the silk purse of only two Premier League defeats before , when Chelsea were Liverpool’s nearest challengers, into a sow’s ear.

For some unfathomable reason, Maresca kept telling the Chelsea were not ready to win the title - and the players took him at his word. England star Cole Palmer’s last goal was back in January and first-choice striker Nicolas Jackson’s last bullseye was more than four months ago.

If a top-five finish is still up for grabs by the time they visit the City Ground on the last day of term, anything is possible - but Chelsea look more likely to miss the cut than regain Champions League orbit.

VERDICT: Trouble ahead for Maresca

ASTON VILLA

could pay a savage price for that. The Aston Villa boss was a portrait of anguish, standing with his eyes clenched shut, as Manchester City snatched their 94th-minute winner to gain the whip hand.

Even a point, at a venue where Villa had lost on their previous 14 league visits, would have been gold dust and kept City within range.

But now, to finish above the dotted line, Villa will not just need to win their remaining home games against dangerous dark horses Fulham and , whose Spursy form in the Premier League includes 18 defeats in 33 games but a 4-1 whipping of Villa six months ago.

In all likelihood, Emery’s top-five chances will hinge on a last-day trip to Old Trafford… and Villa’s record there is almost as lousy as their standing order of disappointments across town at City. This century, in 23 away games against , Villa have won two, drawn two and lost 19.

VERDICT: Back to the Europa League

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