Archive May 4, 2025

Enzo Maresca argued that defeating Liverpool was “important,” but that Chelsea’s struggle to qualify for the Champions League “is not over.”

Chelsea won three consecutive matches to extend their unbeaten streak to six with a 3-1 victory over the newly-crowned champions at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

With three games to go, Chelsea are now fifth in the table, three points clear of fourth-placed Newcastle after a 1-1 draw at Brighton earlier in the day.

With a 4-1 aggregate advantage to defend, Chelsea take on Swedish side Djurgarden in the second leg of their Conference League semifinal on Thursday.

“The victory was significant, but it hasn’t been accomplished. We must play three games at once, Maresca told BBC Match of the Day.

The second leg is on Thursday; we need to concentrate on that and try to reach the European final.

Nottingham Forest, who is third in third place, is only four points clear of Aston Villa, who is seventh.

The top five players in the Premier League will each be guaranteed a spot in the Champions League for the upcoming season.

With a win over Brighton, Newcastle had the chance to move up to third place, but they had to settle for a draw thanks to Alexander Isak’s 89th-minute penalty, which earned them a share of the points.

With only games against Chelsea, Arsenal, and Everton to play, the Carabao Cup winners are still in fourth place.

“It’s all to play for,” Three enormous and three extremely difficult games come at once. Eddie Howe, the manager of Newcastle, told Sky Sports, “Two of them are at home, and we hope that can make the difference.”

Things may change in the final weeks of the campaign, but there will be at least eight Premier League teams competing in Europe next season, an increase from the usual seven.

Crystal Palace, who finished second in the FA Cup final against Villa last weekend, could still qualify for Europe via the league or by defeating Manchester City in the FA Cup final later this month.

Liverpool (A), Newcastle (H), and Southampton (A) are at Arsenal.

Chelsea (H), Arsenal (A), and Everton (H) are at Newcastle.

Nottingham Forest: Chelsea (H), West Ham (A), and Crystal Palace (H), respectively.

Southampton (A), Bournemouth (H), and Fulham (A) are Manchester City.

Manchester United (H), Nottingham Forest (A), and Chelsea (A).

Aston Villa: Tottenham (H), Manchester United (A), and Bournemouth (A).

Aston Villa (H), Manchester City (A), and Leicester (H) are Bournemouth.

Everton (H), Brentford (A), and Manchester City (H) are Fulham’s (H).

Wolves (A), Liverpool (H), and Tottenham (A) are at Brighton.

Brentford: Fulham (H), Fulham (H), and Wolves (A)

Eight to eleven Premier League teams will travel to Europe next season, depending on how things turn out this year.

Because of England’s better performance in Uefa’s coefficient rankings, at least five of those will play in the Champions League.

If Arsenal wins the Champions League and finishes outside the top five, which is a remote possibility, or even seven if that happens and Manchester United or Tottenham win the Europa League, that number could rise.

Next year, there are a maximum of three Premier League teams that could compete in the Europa League.

The FA Cup winners and the team that finished sixth are likely to take second place.

However, if the cup winners have already secured a place in Europe, they will face the next highest-placed team that has not yet qualified for Europe.

If Chelsea loses the Conference League and does not advance to the Champions League, a third place might be awarded.

A Premier League team will receive one Conference League spot.

Newcastle, the current host of the Carabao Cup, will win, but that could change if Eddie Howe’s side earns a place in the Champions League or the Europa League.

That appears likely given that Newcastle currently belongs to the top four.

Although this is highly unlikely, it might still occur.

Arsenal, Manchester United, or Tottenham would need to win the Champions League, and Chelsea would need to take the Conference League title, with all three winners having to finish outside the top six.

Before Thursday’s Europa League semi-final second leg against Bodo/Glimt, Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou claims James Maddison’s injury “does not look great.”

In the first leg of Thursday’s game, Spurs defeated the Norwegian side 3-1, but Maddison was forced off in the second half due to a broken leg.

Spurs’ 1-1 draw at West Ham in the Premier League on Sunday did not include the attacking midfielder in the matchday squad.

“We’ll just wait and see,” he said. On Monday, we should likely get some clarity.

“I’ll just wait and see,” the statement read.

Due to a knock, Dominic Solanke, who won the game in the middle of the week, was also unsporting.

Postecoglou was more optimistic about the striker’s chances for Norway’s return leg.

Dom is improving, Postecoglou claimed to BBC Sport. He should be fine for Thursday, we say. To get more money, we simply let him go [against West Ham].

However, the medical team is reasonably certain that he will be okay on Thursday.

Postecoglou’s side ended their three-game losing streak by making eight changes while having the priority of the Europa League.

Only Yves Bissouma, Richarlison, and Guglielmo Vicario made the first-leg starting lineup, with only one other player remaining.

The Spurs boss told BBC Sport, “It’s something we’ve been doing for a while because we’ve had to.”

We’ve had a terrible run with injuries, which, to be fair, haven’t yet recovered. But it made sense with the opportunity [in the Europa League] we have ahead of us.

In a completely different defense, Richarlison, Kevin Danso, Ben Davies, and Djed Spence made up the front three, along with Mathys Tel and Wilson Odobert, who both contributed to the 15th-minute opener.

With just three games left, Tottenham is 16th overall with 38 points from 35 games, one point clear of West Ham and one point behind Everton and Manchester United.

Postecoglou, however, expressed his pride in his players’ deeds in the derby.

Making so many changes is not simple, and it will have an impact on the team’s fluency and even rhythm, he said.

They made great efforts, I thought. They had a plan and were disciplined.

“I still believed we were dangerous going the other way because we tried to disarm their threat, and they had some respectable firepower at our disposal.”

If Bodo/Glimt does well on Thursday, either Manchester United or Athletic Bilbao will host them in the May 21 final.

Cooper Associates County Ground, Taunton, Division One of the Rothesay County Championship (day three).

Essex 206 &amp, 259: Cox 103* (retired hurt), Pretorius 3-36

Somerset 145 &amp, 216-6: Rew 65*, Harmer 3-80

To defeat Essex (3 points), Somerset (3 points) needs 105 more runs.

On the third day of Somerset’s third-day County Championship Division One game at Taunton, an injury to centurion Jordan Cox severely damaged an impressive Essex display.

Cox, who was recently called up to the England squad, increased his overnight score of 61 to an unbeaten 103 as his team increased their total for the second innings from 163-4 to 259 all out.

However, he immediately broke down clutching his lower left after taking the single that put him on 99 and reached three figures.

When Somerset attempted to score 321 on a pitch that still provided assistance to seam and spin, Cox was replaced in the field and did not play any further innings for Essex.

Lewis Gregory scored 57 as they came to a close of 216-6, and James Rew scored 65.

Tom Westley, the coach for Essex, informed Cox that there was a problem with his side but that a scan would not be available until Monday.

We’ll be aware of a lot more then, according to Westley. It was unfortunate that he was unable to continue after playing a fantastic innings.

Cox and Michael Pepper quickly increased their overnight lead of 224 in the first hour of play.

Cox celebrated Craig Overton’s introduction with a magnificent extra cover drive for four before sweeping Jack Leach for boundaries off successive deliveries. When misfortune struck, Pepper leant strong support, leading to a total of 234-4.

Cox had experienced some discomfort, and Leach’s quick single off the end of his ton caused him to prostrate himself. He was ushered to his feet after a number of minutes of treatment, but he only continued for four more minutes before passing the 155-ball hundred mark.

After finishing off the lead past 300, Pepper glanced a four off Overton, but Migael Pretorius suffered the first of three victims in a row, leaving him leg before going on the back foot.

Sam Cook top-edged a pull shot to be caught at fine leg while Noah Thain edged to Rew. As Essex dropped from 252-4 to 259 all out, Leach contributed with Kasun Rajitha and Simon Harmer’s wickets.

On a pitch that had aided bowlers from the beginning, a lead of 321 still appeared to be in order. The 91-5 was left at tea as Somerset’s fragile top order again failed, it appeared.

Without allowing a run on the board, Andy Umeed edged a catch to second slip off Jamie Porter, and Archie Vaughan top-edged a shot to leg off Cook to give a straightforward catch from mid-wicket.

Tom Lammonby fell for 30 yards after Harmer’s introduction from eighth over, a ball that went past the left-hander’s forward defensive shot and hit his back pad. Harmer came in first and struck first with the total of 54.

Tom Abell made it 29 before a sharply turning delivery from Harmer clipped his off-spin and made it 71-5.

With only seven more runs remaining, Somerset’s player, who is currently 13 years old, reverse-spreads the spinner and is ruled to have got a little too much before Dean Elgar slips.

At the tea break, Skipper Gregory and Rew had a positive attitude and both left for the final session.

In a counterattacking partnership that only served to highlight previous batting inadequacies, anything that seemed even slightly loose was mercilessly punished with boundaries. Off 80 balls and seven fours, Gregory sprinted to half-century.

Rew’s performance was equally impressive, going 37 against Rajitha, whose captain flashed a four-for-four cut to bring up the 100-point plateau. However, Gregory made a second forced shot with the same result, only to have a thick inside edge strewn across his stumps.

Rew’s 10th four, which was third-man off Cook, resulted in a fluent fifty off of 91 balls and the Somerset 200.

A fresh attack and the second new ball from tomorrow kept him in the game at the end, with a further 105 required.