Five teams, three spots – which way will race for Champions League go?

EPA
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On the final day of the season, five Premier League clubs will compete for three Champions League spots, with Eddie Howe, Newcastle manager, saying he “had the feeling it would come to an end.”

With a 1-0 victory over the Magpies on Sunday, Arsenal moved into the Champions League after defeating Liverpool.

However, with Manchester City and Nottingham Forest tied for third place with 66 points, Chelsea and Aston Villa, and Newcastle as one of three other teams.

Five English Premier League clubs will advance to the Champions League, up from the usual four, with an additional place being secured as a result of positive results from European Premier League clubs this year.

At home to Bournemouth on Tuesday, sixth-placed Manchester City will have a game in hand, which means, unlike Villa, they have their fate in their own hands.

City, the final leg of the FA Cup, will travel to Fulham on day one.

Meanwhile, Newcastle is aware that a home victory over Everton on Sunday (16:00 BST) would be enough to complete the task.

A win would be sufficient, Chelsea is also aware of. However, they travel to Forest, where they lost to West Ham 2-1 on Sunday to maintain their best hopes.

Forest must defeat the Blues, and they must hope that at least one of the team’s competitors fails.

Villa will likely need to take advantage of other teams to win at Manchester United.

Still following?

There will be a sixth English team in the competition, so the winners of Wednesday’s Europa League match between Manchester United and Tottenham will also qualify for the Champions League, but any league changes will be affected by that.

Whoever loses to Bilbao will have no kind of European football of any kind next season because Spurs and United are in the bottom five of the Premier League.

How the European conflict appears

Premier League table (positions 3-11)

What are the managers’ statements?

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Two of the remaining Champions League managers had games on Sunday.

If Newcastle had defeated Arsenal, Howe’s side could have finished second and almost secured their position.

After winning the Carabao Cup, they are guaranteed at least a place in the Conference League, but they also want more, so beating Everton is the goal.

“We weren’t in a great position until the season ended.” We made a lot of effort to get here. It’s a very tight race. We still have a chance to use what we need, Howe said.

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If Forest had lost to West Ham, their chances of winning the Champions League would have been over. They will now fancy playing Chelsea at home.

Being at the City Ground is another big boost for us, it’s going to be bouncing, according to manager Nuno Espirito Santo.

We will fight; it will be our final game, and we will also fight for something special.

What are the opinions of experts?

Because of that game, statisticians Opta give Manchester City 85.9% of the possible Champions League spots.

Chelsea are expected to finish there in 56.8% of their predictions, while Newcastle are not far behind with an 83.5% chance.

Villa are given a 44.4% hope, with Forest down on 29.3%.

Les Ferdinand, the ex-Northampton striker, said on Sky Sports, “I believe you would expect Newcastle to defeat Everton because Everton have nothing to play for in their final home game of the season.”

“Manchester City will do it, in my opinion. They are capable of producing when they choose. Although I am aware that they haven’t had a great season, they can still show up when they need.

Jamie Redknapp, an ex-Liverpool midfielder, continued, “I still believe City will do it, but it’s not going to be easy by any means.” Aston Villa has the easiest fixture because they host Manchester United away.

These are not teams with strong records.

What remaining fixtures are pertinent?

Everton (H) at Newcastle

Nottingham Forest (A) at Chelsea

Manchester United (A): Aston Villa

Fulham (A), Bournemouth (H), and Manchester City (H)

Who else will qualify for Europe?

The FA Cup victory over Manchester City in the final of Saturday ensured Crystal Palace, who are 12th in the league, would earn them a spot in the Europa League.

The sixth-placed team will also be eligible for the Europa League.

As the Carabao Cup winners, Newcastle United have at least a spot in the Conference League for the upcoming season.

In the event that Newcastle finishes in the top six, the Conference League will instead be based on their position in the Premier League.

Due to a 10-point drop to eighth, the teams that finish sixth and seventh will be the two teams that will miss out on the Champions League next weekend.

Now, there is a chance that the eighth-place team will advance to the Conference League.

If Chelsea places seventh in the league, according to Opta, and wins the Conference League championship game against Real Betis on May 28th, that will happen.

Chelsea would then advance to the Europa League if they won the Wroclaw final.

You might be better off just trusting us, but that’s for a lot of complicated reasons, which you can read about here.

On goal difference, Brentford is currently eighth, ahead of Brighton. After defeating the Bees, Fulham is one point behind that pair, while Bournemouth is another.

However, both Brighton and Bournemouth will face City on Tuesday when they travel to Liverpool at home on Monday.

What remaining fixtures are pertinent?

Wolves (A) in Brentford

Tottenham (A), Liverpool (H), and Brighton (H)

Manchester City (H) vs. Fulham (H)

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Man Utd make Mbeumo move – Monday’s gossip

Bryan Mbeumo has moved to Brentford, while Cristiano Ronaldo could travel to Brazil, and Aston Villa is interested in Ferran Torres.

Bryan Mbeumo, 25, of Brentford, has a year left on his current contract, according to Manchester United, who has made an offer of 65 million euros (£54 million). (Fichajes – Spanish)

Cristiano Ronaldo, 40, from Al-Nassr has received a request from a private Brazilian club that would allow the Portugal international to participate in the Fifa Club World Cup, which will begin in June. (Spanish: Marca)

Ferran Torres, 25, is a Barcelona forward who is interested in Aston Villa and willing to offer around 50 million euros (£42 million) for the spaniard. (Mundo Deportivo, Spanish)

After leaving French club Lens, English manager Will Still, 32, is reportedly in talks to take over as manager of Southampton. (Independent)

Rayan Cherki, a 21-year-old French winger who is wanted by Manchester United and Liverpool, has confirmed he will leave the French side this summer. (Goal)

This summer, Manchester United are interested in Portugal’s and Sporting‘s Pedro Goncalves, 26. (Teamtalk)

Enzo Barrenea, 23, a loan player from Valencia, is one of the clubs that Atletico Madrid is interested in. (Birmingham Mail)

Leroy Sane, a former winger for Manchester City, is out of contract at Bayern Munich starting next month, but Bayern Munich is still hopeful of keeping the winger. (German) (Bild)

Nottingham Forest are eager to offer new contracts to England winger Callum Hudson-Odoi, 24, and midfielder Morgan Gibbs-White, 25, as soon as possible. Football Insider

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Lightning beat Pulse in battle of NSL’s top two

Ben Lumley

Loughborough Lightning, reigning champions, defeated Loughborough Lightning 58-53 to move level on points with London Pulse at the top of the table on Sunday.

In the final minutes of the game, Lightning looked comfortable, looking to build on that lead and lead the league in the end.

But they eventually fell short of expectations and held on for a jittery victory, winning 17-6.

In the end, the Lightning, who were embarrassed by Pulse in the second round of the season, won 77-51.

The teams are now tied on 25 points after 10 rounds, with the London side trailing on goal difference, as a result of Pulse’s narrow margin of victory, which included a losing bonus point as a result of Pulse’s fourth-quarter surge.

This season, teams that lose by five goals or fewer receive a losing bonus point.

London Mavericks reclaimed the top four after a nail-biting 71-66 victory over Leeds Rhinos earlier.

With just under a minute to go, the Rhinos had a chance to win the third game of the season, but Mavericks’ one-pointer made it a stretch.

The capital club then held their resolve to triumph over Nottingham Forest next weekend in a potentially crucial match for the deciding play-off spots at Canon Medical Arena in Sheffield.

With a 77-53 victory over Cardiff Dragons, League newcomers Forest had boosted their chances of being among the top four prospects on Friday.

Rolene Streutker, a South African goalie, shot 110 shots for the campaign on a successful night.

With only four points from nine games, Cardiff is still at the bottom.

Rolene StreutkerGetty Images

What they said about Pulse v. Lightning

Loughborough Lightning player of the match Berri Neil stated to Sky Sports, “We’ve all been hoping to win this round, hoping to return to Lightning after our first game.” We knew we had a lot more to give, but we were so disappointed with it. We are unhappy with that last quarter because it is still not perfect. A win over them would be good, but if we were to face them again at any point, we would have to be much better and be capable.

Sam Bird, the head coach for Pulse, said, “I thought Loughborough really got going.” We’re still having trouble finding connections, but some of our players have been completely isolated and shut down by them. I’m working on giving our shooters confidence to go post and shoot, but we both had a great time. Our attack needs to have a little more faith in one another.

Results and elements

Round 10

May 16th, 2019

Nottingham Forest vs. Cardiff Dragons, 53-77

May 18th, Sunday

London Mavericks 66-71 Leeds Rhinos

Loughborough Lightning 53-58 London Pulse

Birmingham Panthers 67-61

Round 11

May 24th, 2019

Nottingham Forest vs. London Mavericks (16:00 BST)

Loughborough Lightning vs. Cardiff Dragons (1900)

May 25th, Sunday,

Manchester Thunder vs. Leeds Rhinos live on BBC Sport (16:00)

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How ‘delicious’ Verstappen move caught McLaren by surprise

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McLaren was completely caught out by Max Verstappen’s surprise at the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix to seal his second victory of the year and serve as a reminder that he cannot be ruled out of this year’s Formula 1 championship match.

The surprise came in two ways: firstly, by the spectacular move by Oscar Piastri of McLaren to take the Red Bull driver’s lead at the first corner, and then by Verstappen’s impressive pace once outside in front.

Verstappen also led the opening 20 laps of the race in Miami, but he was quickly snagged by the McLarens of Lando Norris and Piastri before being abandoned for the long run.

This is different.

Verstappen once had the advantage of holding the lead in the race. And while McLaren were left to regret some of the “wrong calls” made during the race, Piastri claimed they were aware that none of them would have affected the outcome.

In light of how the race turned out, with first a virtual safety car followed by an actual one, Piastri had to choose to pit early for fresh tyres. And Piastri and Norris came in third and third, which is the reverse championship order in which the season’s protagonists came in.

Norris remarked, “It was the best result I believed we could actually achieve today.” I probably didn’t anticipate the Red Bull to be as quick as they did.

the moment that determined the race’s outcome

Oscar Piastri and Max Verstappen at the first corner of the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix.Images courtesy of Getty

But that’s first. It was delicious.

Verstappen actually had lost ground on the first corner, with Piastri seemingly still in the lead after Mercedes’ George Russell edged ahead on his inside.

However, Piastri braked earlier than he should have done in the middle of the track, which was all Verstappen needed.

He “sent it” with complete devotion and pissed off Piastri, a typically unaware and instinctive racer himself.

The Australian responded, “Yeah.” “I thought Max made a wise decision, and I thought it was pretty under control.” So, I’ll be clear on that when I do next.

In retrospect, “definitely would have done something different.” Probably ten meters later, I would have braked. Yes . That is it. Live and discover.

“But I wasn’t overly worried about not being in the lead,” I said at that time. But then, I realized our pace wasn’t as fast as I had anticipated.

Verstappen was even impressed by the move.

He said, “I was a little backwards.” “Basically in P3 at the time before braking. I had to travel a long way, of course, but I was on the typical braking path.

Even on a track where overtaking is as notoriously challenging as Imola, it might not have mattered if McLaren had shown the pace advantage they had in Miami, Bahrain, China, or Australia.

But that was not their choice. Verstappen’s grip on the pitch was initially strong until Piastri sensed his tyres disintegrating, so McLaren made the decision to pit him.

The tyres went through a phase where they felt like they were going off before coming back on the same day. However, it only made a change, and McLaren came in second and third.

Verstappen believed that his improved form could be explained by two different factors. Some upgrades that Red Bull had provided had been successful. However, the track itself was present.

As with his previous success this year, Verstappen’s Jeddah, where he squared off against Piastri, “has quite a few high-speed corners, which I think our car likes”.

It’s very track specific, he continued. High-speed tracks and high-speed corners have been the hallmarks of every other time we have been really competitive.

“We still have work to do,” the team said. “I do believe it was a very positive weekend.”

“Feb. 9 was still very challenging, but I believe we had a better setup for Saturday.” And I just hope that we can use that a little more frequently because it undoubtedly opened up more space for the car.

Norris remarked, “The high-speed corners have been where we’ve been going the entire season.” Therefore, we must work in that field, which may have caused some of our pain this weekend.

We’ve been saying “we have to keep working hard,” we said right away. Max has repeatedly outqualified us, and their pace only increased today to Sunday.

What might follow?

Seven races in, and a pattern is emerging. The Red Bull and McLaren are rivals on a high-speed track. The McLaren has a clear advantage over competitors in a different speed range, though.

The pendulum may continue to swing therefore. The pace of Monaco is what it is this weekend. McLaren should win.

Verstappen once said, “Montemarle is, of course, very different. Let’s see how we will perform there, then. You may recall that our last year was very challenging. Because there is, of course, a lot of low speed, I don’t anticipate it to be much easier this time around.

The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is full of long, medium, and high-speed corners on the weekend in Spain. territory for Red Bulls. Except for the high levels of tyre degradation, which should benefit McLaren.

However, overall, McLaren still favors the math and the trend.

Because either team can win on the tracks where the cars are fairly evenly distributed. Verstappen was defeated, for instance, in Saudi Arabia. Additionally, there are tracks that McLaren are simply better at. Red Bull will need McLaren to be a failure in their current form to succeed.

There aren’t, at least so far, any tracks where the Red Bull is dominant in the same way that the McLaren has been at about half the events so far.

Although Piastri is by nature a down-to-earth person who doesn’t let anything obstruct his sang-froid, he may have been considering this when he summed up his feelings in third place.

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‘We are unsatisfied and upset’ – Arteta on Arsenal season

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Mikel Arteta expresses his disappointment and disappointment at Arsenal’s continued season without a significant trophy.

Following Sunday’s 1-0 win over Newcastle-Arnsford, the Gunners manager addressed the crowd at Emirates Stadium with a powerful and moving speech.

Arsenal will be able to compete in the Champions League next season if the outcome is achieved, but it has only been five years since the Gunners last won the FA Cup in 2020.

They were comfortably beaten by Liverpool to win the Premier League, were eliminated from the Champions League and Carabao Cup in the semi-finals, and were eliminated from the FA Cup in the third round.

Arteta proclaimed that he is ready to “give his life” to win an Arsenal trophy.

In his press conference, Arteta stated, “Liverpool have a trophy – we don’t have a trophy,” adding that the club has won one FA Cup since being appointed head coach in December.

“We are upset and unsatisfied. However, I believe our course is correct.

What I can say is, “I will do my very best to win a trophy,” and I will give it all to make the most of everyone present to squeeze the most out of them. “I will do my very best to win a trophy.”

Getty Images

When Arteta reached the field minutes after the final whistle to express appreciation to the fans who had backed this season, some fans had already left the stadium.

We had a dream that we could bring the big prizes to you guys, but many circumstances prevented us from doing it, he said.

We must ensure that our pursuit of a dream is transparent and that we continue to pursue it with joy and enthusiasm for the upcoming season.

“We need to start making our own history here at this stadium, where we started this campaign. There will be a lot more, and it won’t be simple. These players possess the ability.

We need to rest and finish in Southampton before taking a vacation.

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Ospreys and Scarlets accuse WRU of funding U-turn

Features of Rex

Ospreys and Scarlets have accused the Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) of making a flop following its decision to abandon its four professional sides with equal funding.

WRU bosses claim they now intend to implement a new two-tier funding structure, which Ospreys and Scarlets claim has “created more destabilizing and debilitating uncertainty in our game.”

By the deadline of 8 May, Ospreys and Scarlets had not agreed to Welsh rugby’s new Professional Rugby Agreement (PRA).

Dragons and Cardiff, who had received a formal notification that they intended to go into administration last month, signed the agreement.

Ospreys and Scarlets claimed to have contacted the WRU to request assurances that the acquisition would not “disproportionally benefit Cardiff and disadvantage the independent clubs.”

WRU have given a two-year notice to the current agreement that supports the Welsh professional game after Ospreys and Scarlets failed to do so.

That current PRA expires in 2027, despite the new five-year agreement’s promise to replace it.

The WRU stated in a statement on Sunday that it had made the “difficult but necessary decision” to issue the formal two-year notice to terminate the current PRA agreement in order, particularly, to proceed with its debt refinancing, because those clubs had not signed by the deadline.

The organization’s announcement came as a result of reports that it plans to remove a team from its professional ranks.

WRU acted without getting in touch with them.

Ospreys and Scarlets have released a statement outlining their opinions.

The WRU’s statement read, “We are concerned and depressed to read the WRU outlining a sudden change in its strategy of four professionally managed, equally funded clubs in Wales.”

“This U-turn has now made our game more destabilizing and incapacitating,” according to the questions being posed by stakeholders from our clubs and local communities regarding the future structure and landscape for professional rugby in Wales.

The “One Wales” strategy and the new PRA (2025) have both undergone dramatic and unintentional changes.

“This contradicts recent commitments made to Welsh rugby fans and clubs.

We all care about the future of professional rugby in Wales.

The two Welsh regions demanded that the WRU provide “more detail and clarity” with the decision.

We want to know the “occasion” it wants to take advantage of, and let them know how they plan to implement a new system and model for Welsh rugby.

We require a unified position and coherent strategy to keep developing as professional clubs in Wales.

We as professional clubs share the same enthusiasm, determination, and hope for a better and more sustainable future for our sport in Wales, which has experienced significant change in recent years.

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