Jose Mourinho gives Tottenham the edge over Chelsea and Manchester United in race for Champions League places
Manchester United’s win at Chelsea on Monday has only cranked up the pressure in one of the most keenly contested races for Champions League qualification in recent years.
Just seven points separate Chelsea, in fourth, and Burnley, in 11th, because – Liverpool aside – there is very little consistency and everyone is beating everyone else.
From second place down, there are no great teams in the Premier League this season, only good sides. Momentum, then, is all-important as we enter the last third of the campaign.
Manchester City’s impending ban from European competition means that there could be two Champions League places up for grabs, alongside Liverpool and Leicester.
Chelsea head the pack but, having started Frank Lampard’s tenure so well they have lost their way lately, taking just 15 points from their last 14 league games.
Goals have dried up and confidence has seeped away. Suddenly vulnerable, failure to take at least a point from Saturday’s showdown with Tottenham could prove a crushing psychological blow.
Spurs have been scrambling for results under Jose Mourinho but Sunday’s 3-2 win at Aston Villa was typical of their recent habit of grafting their way to three points.
They have five wins from an unbeaten run of seven games, so they have that elusive momentum. The downside is that Son Heung-Min has now joined Harry Kane in the treatment room.
Sheffield United are next in line and can point to their work ethic, togetherness and the fact they have nothing to lose.
A good run of fixtures ahead should preserve their position for now, but I think they will struggle to accumulate enough points in the run-in to climb higher.
Time for managers to prove worth
Manchester United have not generated any real momentum all season, but the win at Chelsea gives them a platform and I do see improvements.
New signing Bruno Fernandes seems to have lifted them and my feeling is they will now kick on and contend for the Champions League, which is more than they have done so far this term.
Wolves, in seventh, are great to watch but that can mask the fact that they don’t pick up enough points.
They have drawn 12 of 26 league games and have just one victory in nine, so I don’t see them winning consistently enough to break the top five.
Everton, too, are outsiders. Results have improved under Carlo Ancelotti but there is much more to do, they have a horrendous run of games coming up and, ultimately, the Italian has arrived too late for this season.
Arsenal also look too far behind. You can’t read too much into Sunday’s 4-0 defeat of Newcastle and they still have to play a lot of teams above them so the top five looks a lost cause.
I believe the one or two places on offer are between three teams – Chelsea, Spurs and Manchester United – and this is where the managers can show their worth.
Mourinho has earned his stripes and I expect that to give him and Tottenham the edge over the less experienced Lampard and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
If there is one place going, I fancy Spurs; if two, I’d take Chelsea to pip United as at least they have had some consistency to rediscover, while Solskjaer is yet to find it this season.