By Joseph Connolly
The end of the season is creeping ever closer, and the battle for critical points is now on. On Sunday 31st March Liverpool will host Tottenham Hotspur, and tensions are sure to be high. Liverpool is currently sitting at the top of the table with Tottenham in third place with a points gap of fifteen.
Both teams are going to be looking to win, but for very different reasons, bonusbets.com looks at the current state of play.
At this stage, the battle for the top two places looks sealed, as current league title holders Manchester City and Liverpool have locked horns, and it’s unlikely that any other team can get within reach of them at this point.
If they can stay at the top and lift league title silverware it would be a massive victory for Liverpool as they have not won the league since 1990.
Just two points separates the teams, so obtaining a three-point win from every remaining match is going to be high on the agenda. Over the last six games, they have shown great strength in winning four, drawing two and losing none.
This included two wins at home, a ground that brings them energy and confidence.
The run included a 3-1 win at Bayern Munich, in the UEFA Champions League knockout round. On paper, they are the much stronger team on Sunday, and their focus has been a force to be reckoned with, but they should be concerned about potential complacency in this fixture.
While three points don’t really help Spurs in their quest to climb the table, a Battle Royale is going on as the fight to finish in the top four heats up, and with two places sealed already there is just the third and fourth slots left in contention, with four teams chasing those positions.
Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea are all placed to push Tottenham off the third place slot and should they play particularly badly on the run in, they could fall out of the top four altogether, as the four teams all sit remarkably close on points with Tottenham having 61, Arsenal 60, Manchester United 58 and Chelsea 57.
There really is all to play for at this stage, so while Spurs have achieved three straight top three finishes the past three seasons, they need to put the work in to hang on, as qualifying for champions league is by no means a done deal.
Over their last six games, they have seen a mixed bag of results, losing three games, winning two, and drawing against their nearest rival Arsenal.
Sunday is probably the hardest game they have left this season, and they need to work on preventing their rivals from gaining ground.
Whether they can snatch all three for themselves or have to settle for a draw is anyone’s guess, but at this stage, both Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola and Liverpool leader Jürgen Klopp are going to be giving their teams the push to attack all out when this match kicks off.