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FOOTBALL

22 May, 2022

AUTHOR: Star Sports Content

STAR PREVIEW Sun: Premier League | The Final Day

After thirty-seven game weeks the Premier League season comes to a close with a final day that has the potential to provide immense dramas, with the title, European qualification and relegation to be decided.

One of Manchester City and Liverpool can still win the title, North London rivals Tottenham and Arsenal can still qualify for the UEFA Champions League, whilst there’s also the Europa League and Europa Conference League spots to be decided.

At the bottom of the table, Norwich City and Watford are already relegated, but we will get a final day battle for survival between Leeds United or Burnley.

Don’t forget our Final Day Frenzy offer, where you ‘place a tenner’ on the correct score of any Prem game this weekend and get a £5 Free Bet to use on the Champions League final!

Permutations

Title: Manchester City will win the Premier League if they beat Aston Villa on Sunday – or match Liverpool’s result at home to Wolves. Should City draw against Villa, Liverpool will be crowned champions if they beat Wolves. Liverpool are seven goals behind on goal difference, so unless City lose by seven goals to Aston Villa, they’ll need to take three points against Wolves.

Top Four/Champions League: Man City, Liverpool and Chelsea have confirmed their place in next season’s Champions League group stages.

Chelsea would need an 18-goal swing with Tottenham to lose third place so Tottenham are effectively going for fourth, and if they get a point against Norwich then they’ll almost certainly take that spot from Arsenal, as the Gunners would need to beat Everton by 16 goals to finish ahead on goal difference.

Top Six/Europa League: One of Tottenham and Arsenal are guaranteed to be in the Europa League group stages by finishing in fifth place. With Liverpool winning both domestic cups, sixth place gets a group stage position, and Manchester United and West Ham can still take that spot.

Manchester United will be guaranteed a spot in the Europa League if they win at Crystal Palace. Should United drop points, West Ham will be guaranteed a Europa League spot via sixth place if they win at Brighton.

Relegation: After Everton’s remarkable comeback win over Crystal Palace, Leeds and Burnley will fight to stay up. Both sides are level on points but they Burnley have a vastly superior goal difference, meaning that Burnley need to match Leeds’ result at Brentford to stay up, and Leeds will remain in the Premier League at the Clarets’ expense if they better Burnley’s result.

Arsenal v Everton

The stakes of this game have changed after Everton secured safety with their remarkable comeback win on Thursday night, meaning that only Arsenal have a stake in this game. With Tottenham one point ahead – and long odds on to beat Norwich – the final Champions League spot looks out of reach for Arsenal but at the Emirates we can expect them to give a good effort and this could be a high scoring end to the season at the Emirates.

Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Newcastle was the first time in six games that over 2.5 goals hadn’t landed, but there were more than enough chances for that to be the case and it would be no surprise if there were plenty of goals here.

Arsenal were outplayed at Newcastle but they could find more joy against an Everton side that has conceded 61 goals – fifth-worst in the league – with the pace of Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka and Eddie Nketiah. However, the Gunners haven’t kept a clean sheet in nine matches, and freed from the worry of a survival battle, the likes of Alex Iwobi, Richarlison and Dominic Calvert-Lewin could get chances on the break against a shaky Arsenal defence.

Over 2.5 goals is worth backing and over 3.5 goals could be value too.

Over 2.5 Goals and Over 3.5 Goals – currently at ? and ? with starsports.bet

Brentford v Leeds United

Leeds United’s Premier League safety is hanging in the balance as we approach the final game of the Premier League season. Jesse Marsch’s side are currently in the bottom-three – with 35 points from 37 games – needing a result against Brentford and a slip-up from Burnley in order to secure their Premier League status for next season.

It has been a turbulent season for Leeds – summed up by their fans chanting ‘sack the board!’ during their last match against Brighton & Hove Albion. Whatever happens, a summer rebuild is surely on the horizon for them; it’s just a case of whether that will be in the Premier League or the Championship.

The side looking to make sure that Leeds are plying their trade in the second-tier next season is Brentford who are enjoying a strong end to their debut Premier League campaign. Christian Eriksen, who has proved to be an inspired signing, along with talisman Ivan Toney have made sure that the Bees can be far more relaxed than Leeds heading into the final day.

Anything can happen on the final day, but goals and drama are usually in the offing where Leeds are concerned. We’re expecting a dramatic, high-octane last game of the season and that’s why we’re backing over 2.5 goals with Leeds getting the result they need.

Leeds and over 2.5 goals – currently at ? with starsports.bet

Brighton v West Ham

There’s plenty at stake here, with Brighton looking for a top half finish and West Ham needing a win if they’re going to have any chance of qualifying for the Europa League.

The Hammers have suffered for their Europa League run in but were very impressive against Manchester City in a 2-2 draw, after they’d taken a deserved lead thanks to a pair of Jarrod Bowen goals before City pulled them back.

Brighton have finally begun to make the most of their brilliant chance creation towards the end of the season with wins over Tottenham, Wolves, and Manchester United in recent weeks but they were pegged back by a Leeds side who were simply more motivated in the second half in a 1-1 draw and it’s not hard to see West Ham putting in a huge effort with sixth still a possibility.

A score draw is 10/3 and given how little separates the sides that could be the value in what has the makings of a tight game.

Draw and Both Teams to Score – currently at ? with starsports.bet

Burnley v Newcastle United

Burnley are also at risk of dropping into the Championship on the last day of this Premier League season, but destiny is in their own hands with a win against Newcastle securing a spot in the top-flight next season.

The Clarets picking up a point on Wednesday night against Aston Villa – in which goalkeeper Nick Pope produced a Man of the Match performance – put survival back into the hands of Mike Jackson’s side heading into the last game but still have a job to do to secure their safety.

Newcastle looked in major trouble when Eddie Howe first took over, but the ex-Bournemouth boss has done a sterling job in turning around the Magpies’ fortunes and his side head into this game set for a comfortable mid-table finish.

The permutations for Burnley are clear heading into this game: win and they stay up, anything else and they will be nervously hoping that Brentford can do them a favour and prevent Leeds from getting a result. This is a tough one for the Clarets and we’re backing a double chance of a draw or a Newcastle win.

Newcastle-draw – currently at ? with starsports.bet

Chelsea v Watford

There is plenty of excitement around the grounds on what is looking like a dramatic final day of the Premier League season but, sadly, there isn’t likely to be much at Stamford Bridge in a complete dead-rubber of a game between Chelsea and Watford.

With Chelsea, barring a swing of over 20 goals, heading for a third-place finish and Watford already relegated and planning for next season in the Championship under incoming boss Rob Edwards, there is very little on the line here.

Chelsea should come through this one and defeat a Watford side that have looked pretty desperate in recent weeks, but it wouldn’t be overly surprising to see Thomas Tuchel tinker with his side somewhat and use this game to experiment.

Crystal Palace v Manchester United

Erik Ten Hag is going to be in attendance at Selhurst Park on Sunday afternoon, planning to get a glimpse of his Manchester United team as he prepares to take over at Old Trafford this summer.

On the pitch, Manchester United will be aiming to secure Europa League football whilst Crystal Palace are hoping to push up the Premier League table in what has been a promising first season in charge for Patrick Vieira.

It has been a very disappointing season for United but, at 6/5, they look like value to get the win here with their new boss watching over.

Man Utd to win – currently at ? with starsports.bet

Leicester City v Southampton

In a match that defines the ‘end-of-season dead-rubber’, Leicester City take on Southampton at the King Power Stadium.

It has been a disappointing season for both of these teams with the Foxes finishing nowhere near top-four contention and Southampton ending the season completely out-of-sorts and in luck that the season isn’t going on any longer with no time for them to be dragged into a relegation fight.

The Saints have won just one of their last 10 games and, whilst Leicester have picked up slightly, both of these teams will just be desperate for the season to end and for the summer rebuild to begin.

Liverpool v Wolverhampton Wanderers

That Liverpool have taken the Premier League’s title race to the final day is hugely creditable – at one point, Manchester City were clear by 14 points at one stage, albeit with Liverpool having two games in hand – and an upset of any kind is not expected at Anfield.

The Reds managed to grind out victory at Southampton despite making nine changes from the side that won the FA Cup by beating Chelsea on penalties at Wembley on Saturday, and we could see something much closer to the first XI with a week between this and the Champions League final.

That could spell trouble for Wolves, who have lost four of their last six fixtures including a 5-1 thumping at the hands of Manchester City just a couple of weeks ago.

We can expect Liverpool to ramp the pressure up from an early stage and that’s likely to mean a high corner count for the hosts. Liverpool managed nine against Southampton, and eleven against a deep-lying Spurs here at the beginning of the month, making the 5.5 corner handicap look like a potential bet at 5/6 in a game where value’s hard to find. This could be best left.

Manchester City v Aston Villa

The title race has gone down to the final day and Manchester City can seal a fourth Premier League crown in the last five seasons with a win against Aston Villa.

City were caught cold by defensive injuries and a ferociously competitive West Ham side last week but they pulled themselves back to take a point there, and being back at the Eithad after a week’s rest should be the prefect preparation for the big finale.

The absence of John Stones, Kyle Walker and Ruben Dias from City’s defence is not ideal – Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte looked all at sea against forwards Jarrod Bowen and Michail Antonio last week – but no side apart from Liverpool has been able to match them going forward and they should surely be too powerful for Aston Villa.

Kevin D Bruyne (15), Raheem Sterling (15), and Riyad Mahrez (11) have led the goalscoring charge for City whilst Phil Foden (9) and Gabriel Jesus (8) have not been far behind, AND city should be too good for an Aston Villa side which has lost all nine of their meetings with the top five this season.

Before City’s 2-2 draw against West Ham, they had recorded five straight league wins by 3-0, 5-1, 4-0, 5-0 and 5-1 scorelines, and they can be just as dominant here to end another title-winning season.

Manchester City -2 – currently at ? with starsports.bet

Norwich City v Tottenham Hotspur

Tottenham have gone through plenty of hights and lows this season but just one game stands between them and Champions League football and the fixture list has been most kind to them, with a trip to already relegated Norwich unlikely to trouble them according to the odds.

Spurs are 2/9 for the three points they need and that seems fair – they’ve taken 23 points from the last 30 available, including a draw at title chasing Liverpool – and whilst they had to grind their way past Burnley last week, they fully deserved their victory and should fine less resistance from a Norwich side who have conceded 79 goals this season.

The likes of Harry Kane, Son Heung-Min, Lucas Moura and co should be able to take real advantage of that and 8/11 for Spurs to bypass a one goal handicap looks generous.

Tottenham Hotspur -1 – currently at ? with starsports.bet

JOE CITRONE & WILLIAM KEDJANYI

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