Is beating Chelsea next week even more crucial than it was before? by Nick
Manchester United have beaten Sp*rs 1-0, making us and United Level on points in the table. While Arsenal are 7 points off Chelsea, the game between Manchester United and Tottenham really shows how crucial a win against Chelsea is next weekend.
After this poor weekend, I’m starting to think that a loss against Chelsea will mean top 4 is surely out of reach. Top 4 this season is so competitive that even a draw for clubs in this part of the table would be devastating to their title chances.
With us only being ahead of United on goal difference, and Chelsea being 7 points ahead of us, the easiest route back into the Champions League is winning the Europa League. I’d personally be perfectly fine with concentrating on winning Europa and dropping to maybe fifth or sixth once again. While it may not look good to be finishing outside top 4 for the THIRD consecutive season, I’d rather us do that then trying too hard for top 4 and ending up just short and out of the Europa League by the end of the season.
Getting UCL football will also help us with our whole transfer dilemma. The first thing it’ll do, is that it will attract players to the club, because who wants to be playing in Europa? The second thing it will do for us, is it will provide us with extra funds that we are lacking at the moment.
While it pains me to say this, a Sp*rs win would have obviously helped us widen the gap of us falling even FURTHER down the table, but now Manchester United are on our backs, fighting to get our fifth place spot. We’ve got Chelsea this upcoming weekend, and United have got Brighton, so it’d be an absolute miracle if Brighton could pull something off, and we won.
Getting into the Champions League through the Europa League will be hard, but I personally think it will be easier than trying to get top 4.
-Nick