Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur dropped valuable points in the race for the top four over the weekend.
Whilst Manchester United produced one of their greatest games under Erik ten Hag when they beat Liverpool in the FA Cup on Sunday, those Premier League results would have made their weekend even better.
Unai Emery’s side are still sitting fourth in the table and they are three clear of Tottenham, who have a game in hand, whilst they are nine ahead of Manchester United. They too have a game in hand.
Ian Wright questioned if the above two teams can put Aston Villa ‘under pressure’ and make them falter during this final run-in, as he told Premier League Productions (18/03/24 at 2:35 pm).
But he doesn’t think Spurs and Man United are good enough to pounce on any possible slip-ups from the Midlands side.
Whilst Ange Postecoglou watched his team get slapped 3-0 by Fulham, it was another frustrating afternoon for the boys in Claret & Blue because it was only a 1-1 draw at West Ham United, with Nicolo Zaniolo saving Aston Villa’s blushes.
All it does is make things more nervy in the race for Champions League football, with Ian Wright sharing his thoughts.
The race for Champions League football
“Massive, massive slip-up from Spurs,” said Wright.
“I think Manchester United have got to take something from that, in the respect of, especially what they have done in the cup to give them the confidence to maybe finish the season on a high like ten Hag says, it might be the spark to start their season in March, which is such a long time to start their season.
“Can they put a run together? I don’t know. What we saw in the FA Cup was unbelievable from their point of view.
“Manchester United now have to find some form to see if they can catch Villa. 9 points behind Villa? It’s a lot. It’s a Villa side, even if they are in the Conference as well, Unai Emery would want to be putting his best teams out in the Conference.
“Yes, they have got some injuries and you feel that Villa are maybe the ones, at this stage, it might be the pressure, if you can put them under pressure. You might be able to catch them, but I don’t know if Man United and Tottenham are good enough to put a run together to do that.”
Fifth spot needs to open up for Champions League football
West Ham’s Europa League win over Freiberg has done the English Premier League the world of good when it comes to UEFA’s coefficient system.
People won’t know the definite answer until the end of the season, but the likes of Villa need fifth spot to open up for Champions League football.
If that happens, then many more Villa supporters will believe that Champions League football can be secured.
Whatever happens, the players have done the team proud and now it’s a case of finishing off the final leg, including pushing to win the Europa Conference League.
