Battle for Fourth Place Looks Set to Go Down to the Wire

Tuesday, 27th April 2010 at 12:10pm

With just a handful of fixtures remaining in the 2009/2010 Premier League season, the race for fourth place is still wide open, with four teams still fighting it out for the final lucrative Champions League spot.

Tottenham Hotspurs currently occupy fourth place, with 64 points, level with Martin O'Neill's Aston Villa but with a significant goal difference advantage. More importantly, the Villains have played one match more than their London rivals and have just six points left to play for.

Roberto Mancini's Manchester City lies in sixth with 63 points and Liverpool, many peoples' tip for the title, a further point back in fourth.

Spurs have their destiny in their own hands, but despite lying sixth in the table, Manchester City could be the favourites for fourth,as a quirk of fate sees Aston Villa and the Spurs travelling to Eastlands this weekend and next week respectively.

Jermain Defoe

Although not invincible at home, few sides have emerged from the blue half of Manchester with points this season.

Villa have hit a good patch of form since their 7-0 thumping by Chelsea, but laboured to a home win against Birmingham, while Spurs have the worst away form of any team in the top six.

City have picked just up just a point in their previous two matches, but given the opposition, neighbours United at home and Arsenal away, this wasn't entirely unforeseen.

The smart money would be on Harry Redknapp's men taking all three points against Bolton, with City favourites to beat Villa.

Should City contrive to lose, coupled with a Spurs win, City would be up against it and therefore desperate for a win against Spurs in their penultimate match of the season to give them any hope of snatching fourth.

A home win for City against Spurs would then leave Villa in with an excellent chance of securing an unlikely fourth place with a home fixture against Blackburn on the last day of the season, while Spurs travel to Burnley, who will be looking to end their season in the top flight on high.

Rafael Benitez, Gerrard et al are the rank outsiders for fourth, but have a knack of achieving the impossible under Benitez. Unfortunately for the Reds, their hopes rest entirely on other teams failing to win and would ideally require draws for both Villa and Spurs with Manchester City, Spurs dropping points at home to Bolton and themselves beating a Chelsea side chasing the title at Anfield and Hull City away from home.

Unlikely, but not out of the question; if Liverpool did happen to finish fourth it would require a rewrite of the Great Escape for the red half of Merseyside.

Whatever the outcome - just thinking of all the different outcomes and connotations is enough to make you dizzy - it will go down to the wire and give us all plenty to enjoy over the remaining two weeks of the season.

Football; bloody hell.

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