The race for the Premier League title and top-four finish is getting heated with 12 matches remaining. Arsenal are currently leading the Premier League after 27 games with 66 points, 5 points ahead of second-place Manchester City with 61 points.
Manchester United are third with 50 points with a game in hand. Tottenham completes the top four with 48 points. Newcastle United, Liverpool, and Brighton are in an excellent position to make the top-four finish this season. Either Newcastle United or Brighton can go ahead of Tottenham Hotspurs if they win their two outstanding games.
One team who is turning their season around after a run of poor results. Chelsea has recorded back-to-back victories in the Premier League but are still 10th on the League table. The blues are 11 points behind 4th place finish.
However, Tottenham manager Antonio Conte believes Chelsea can still make the top four with 12 games to go and claims Manchester United have all but secured their top-four finish.
What did Antonio Conte say?
After Tottenham’s victory over Nottingham Forest, the Italian tactician said: “We know very well the race for a place in the Champions League will be really tough. You see the competitors,’ Conte said after Spurs beat Forest thanks to Harry Kane’s double and a Son Heung-min goal.
“You see, there are many, many teams involved, and I think at this moment there is only one place available because Man City and Arsenal are fighting to win the Premier League, and Man United, I think are showing they have great continuity of good results.
“I think there is one place, and there are many teams, many important teams, that are in this race.
“We have to try to do our best, and for sure, I repeat, for us to finish in the top four is like to win the Premier League. It happened last season, and I spoke about miracle.
“I continue to say maybe this season it be much more difficult, much more difficult because Liverpool is a competitor in this race.
“Newcastle is a competitor, and Newcastle is a different Newcastle to the past. They invest a lot of money and they have a strong team.
“You see Chelsea and what happened there and their position, but I don’t consider Chelsea outside [the top-four race]. They have the possibility to win the last 11 or 12 games in a row because the squad is really, really strong.
“But we need to think about ourselves. A top club looks at themselves, not to other results.
“We have to be focused on our path and to try to do our best until the end of the season and then we see which is the position we are able to achieve.”
Tottenham will also seek to finish in the top four after AC Milan eliminated them from the Champions League round of 16.
