With 12 games to go, the top four battle is as close as ever. And who is the best player in the world at the moment?
Part 1
The race for top 4 now looks to be the big overarching storyline of the remaining 12 games of this year’s Premier League season. The title looks certain, the relegation battle hasn’t heated up yet, but there are still six or seven teams vying for a position in next season’s Champions League.
Hello and welcome to the Total Football podcast. I am your host Declan Harte and joining me is Andrew Conway
Andrew, what is the points benchmark these teams need to target?
Part 2
Let’s go through the teams in that scrap for second to fourth. Two of them played each other on Sunday. It was yet another big game 0-0 involving Man United. Why is this happening so much this season?
Leicester lost 3-1 to Arsenal and the injuries continue to pile up. They’re out of Europe, but has the damage been done?
Are West Ham good enough to finish fourth? It sounds absurd, but they’re sitting in that position at time of recording…
Liverpool were comfortably the best team last season, surely even with their recent poor form they will still find a way back into the top 4 in the last two months of the season
Everton and Aston Villa are still there or thereabouts with their games in hand, but are they just too far back?
Tottenham and Arsenal probably left themselves with too much work left to do, but they do still have the Europa League to fight for
Finally, in the news, Barcelona’s former President Josep Bartomeu was arrested this morning. Never a dull moment at that club
Part 3
The Champions League first legs concluded last midweek and without a doubt the standout performances were from the individual pair of Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe. Of course, these two young players aren’t new kids on the block, Mbappe has a World Cup winners medal for crying out loud, but was this February 2021 the month where they established themselves as the two best players in the World?
Part 4
There’s midweek Premier League for… some teams… but not all of them? Anyway, there are some big games this week. Liverpool host Chelsea on Wednesday and Man City host Man United on Sunday.
Closing
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Opening and Closing Music by JuliusH from Pixabay
