So we have a race for the final Premier League top-four spot after all, but it really should not have come to this.
When Chelsea suffered a 3-1 defeat at home to Tottenham on April 1, Antonio Conte’s team found themselves eight points adrift of the top four with just seven games to play.
If Spurs were too far ahead to catch, then Liverpool, in third, were as good as over the horizon with their 10-point lead over Chelsea seemingly enough to banish any prospect of them slipping out of the top four during the final weeks of the season.
But after Olivier Giroud’s first-half header delivered a 1-0 win against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge, the scramble for fourth during this final week of the campaign was triggered, with Conte admitting that he thought a top-four finish was “impossible” after the Spurs defeat.
“As you know very well, one month ago I think it was impossible to make it and fight for the Champions League,” Conte said. “But now there is hope because we are getting three points in every game and our rivals are dropping points.
“Our future is not in our hands, but we have to try to win the points and put the pressure on the teams ahead of us and we are doing that.”
Chelsea has come from nowhere to give themselves a chance of sneaking into the top four on the final day of the season.
Tottenham have also done their bit, losing two and drawing one of their five league games since that triumph at Stamford Bridge — a victory which appeared to be a seminal moment considering it was the first time they had collected three points away to Chelsea since 1990.
Meanwhile, having blown away Manchester City and Roma to reach the Champions League final against Real Madrid later this month, Liverpool’s domestic slump has gone somewhat unnoticed, but Klopp’s team have won just one of their last five league games.
Against Chelsea, they failed to score for a second successive league game for the first time since Aug. 2015, so as they enter the final straight, there can be no guarantees of the victory they need against Brighton at Anfield next Sunday to be certain of a top-four finish.
