With all the Premier League refills over, all teams have completed 37 matches, with the final round to kick off at the same time at the weekend. At that time, the champion and relegation places will all be decided, but there will be a suspense that will need to wait for a week to be revealed. Manchester United have already locked up a top-eight finish in the Premier League, and Chelsea will have to overtake Tottenham if they don't want to fall into an awkward position.
In midweek, the last three postponed fixtures came to an end, due to the postponement of the FA Cup semi-final due to a time conflict. The three games have had a big impact on the Premier League title and the qualification for the three major European cups.
Manchester City returned to top of the Premier League table after beating Tottenham Hotspur away, two points ahead of Arsenal and slightly behind on goal difference. The title race has become quite clear that there is only one chance for Arsenal to win the title, and that is if Manchester City cannot beat West Ham in their final game, and Arsenal will win against Everton. In addition to the rest of the results, Manchester City can lift the Premier League trophy for four consecutive years.
In the other two replay-games, Chelsea beat Brighton & Hove Albion to take all three points, despite Welbeck's goal in the 96th minute. Manchester United, on the other hand, retained the habit of conceding goals in stoppage time, but were able to beat Newcastle in the end, ending the history of three defeats against Newcastle since winning the Carabao Cup final.
At present, all four Champions League places for next season have been confirmed, and Aston Villa have secured the final ticket except for the top three. The three places for the Europa League and the Europa Conference League have not yet been decided.
Since Tottenham is only three points ahead of Chelsea and a little behind on goal difference, there is a possibility in the final round, if Chelsea wins and Tottenham loses, Chelsea can overtake Tottenham and get the fifth place in the Premier League.
Meanwhile, with United reaching the FA Cup final, a win would have sealed a Europa League qualification. Therefore, the fifth place in the Premier League will be able to determine their participation in the Europa League, and the sixth place will have to wait for the FA Cup result.
Although Manchester United have caught up with their opponents in points after beating Newcastle, they are too far behind on goal difference, and they are also behind Chelsea, so in the final game, as long as Newcastle take all three points, Manchester United can only finish eighth in the Premier League, which is also the worst ranking in the league after Ferguson's retirement, worse than Moyes's seventh.
Therefore, in the story of the Premier League finale, Manchester United is likely to fall out of the top seven, and if they want to qualify for Europe, they can only beat Manchester City in the FA Cup to squeeze into the Europa League. Chelsea or Tottenham, if they finish sixth, are in an awkward position, and which competition to participate in depends on the outcome of the Manchester derby.
It is worth mentioning that there is a big difference between the Europa League and the Europa League, and the teams participating in the Europa League need to add two additional qualifying matches. Although the opponents in the qualifying round will not be very strong, this season's Aston Villa beat Hibernian of the Soviet Super League by eight goals over two legs. However, these two games are expected to be played in the middle of the second and third weeks of the new season, with an early start to the double week to test the team's level of run-in in the pre-season warm-up games. In particular, this summer there are European Championships and Copa America, as well as the Olympic Games, and the return of some players may be delayed, and there will be less time for training and rest.
For Manchester United, Raphael Varane and Anthony Martial have already bid farewell to the fans at home, Casemiro and Eriksen could leave, and even captain Fernandes has a chance to leave, and it is still unknown whether manager Ten Hag will stay, and there must be a major change in Manchester United's midfield. If Manchester United end up in the UEFA Europa League, starting with qualifying, it will definitely put a lot of pressure on the preparation period for the summer, and if it is not handled well, it will have a profound impact on the whole season.