Champion

To some extent, MU is considered to have won the Cup this season when it is 15 points ahead of second place Man City.

Man City must win all nine final matches to maintain hope of recreating last season’s miraculous crossing.

The champion’s face will appear more clearly after the Manchester derby at MU.

Key matches: MU – Man City (Monday, April 8), Arsenal – MU (Sunday, April 28), MU – Chelsea (Saturday, May 4).

Prediction of results: MU will likely have the 20th championship title and can even widen the gap to 20 points to set a new record for the score gap between the champion and the runner-up team.

Champions League qualification

MU seems to have secured a place in the top 4. Man City is similar, considering that they still have four home matches (against Newcastle, Wigan, West Ham and Norwich) and two away matches (against Swansea, Reading).

The remaining two positions, which belong to Chelsea and Tottenham respectively, can all change, especially when the three teams in the next positions, Arsenal, Everton and Liverpool, are not too far behind.

The race is therefore limited to three names: Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal, for the last two spots in next season’s Champions League.

Standing fourth, one point behind Chelsea and four points ahead of Arsenal, but having played one more match than these two opponents, Tottenham is theoretically the most disadvantaged team, especially when considering that they have been in decline and lost.

The race for the final spot in the top 4 promises to only have two familiar opponents: Totenham and Arsenal.

Key matches: Chelsea – Tottenham (Sunday, April 14), Tottenham – Man City (Sunday, April 21), Liverpool – Chelsea (Sunday, April 21).

Prediction of results: In order from high to low, the top 4 will be MU, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal.

Europa League qualification

With the victory in the League Cup, Swansea owns the first of three Europa League tickets allocated to English football.

Therefore, unless Newcastle, Chelsea or Tottenham win the Europa League this season and finish lower than fifth place in the Premier League, there is only one final ticket to the Europa League which is decided by the rankings of the teams.

This ticket will most likely belong to the losing team in the race for the top 4 as a consolation prize.

Liverpool still has a chance to get a ticket to the Europa League, but only if they play well, and Tottenham continues to decline.

Key matches: West Brom – Arsenal (Saturday, April 6), Tottenham – Everton (Sunday, April 7), Liverpool – Everton (Saturday, May 4).

Prediction of results: Tottenham will participate in the Europa League.

Three relegation spots

With the same seven points behind the nearest safe position, 17th held by Aston Villa, Reading and QPR are counting down the time to return to the First Division.

Of these two teams, Reading is the most difficult because they just changed coach – Nigel Adkins replaced the fired Brian McDermott, and have to play against Arsenal, Liverpool and Man City in the last eight rounds.

QPR spent most of the season at the bottom of the table, but with major investments in the mid-season transfer window and the presence of coach Harry Redknapp, they still held out hope of making a spectacular escape.

The Death Scythe will most likely choose QPR (blue and white stripes) and Reading (yellow shirt).

Wigan, ranked third from the bottom, so in theory, they are the team with the brighter exit door in the group holding the red light.

Aston Villa and Southampton are also in danger, but have shown signs of improvement recently.

Key matches: Reading – Southampton (Saturday, April 6), QPR – Wigan (Sunday, April 7), Southampton – West Ham (Saturday, April 13), West Ham – Wigan (Saturday, April 20

Predicted results: Reading, QPR and one more team.

> Premier League rankings

Phuong Minh