As the calendar season for most soccer leagues around the world is coming to an end, most league winners will be decided over the following weeks. In Europe’s top leagues, we’ve already seen a champion, Bayer Leverkusen, win their first ever Bundesliga, the German League, over the favorites Bayern Munich. They are currently at pace to finish the season without having lost a single game. The other leagues are still deciding their champions: The French league, Ligue 1, will likely be won by Paris Saint Germain, who is 11 points ahead of second-place Monaco. The Spanish League, La Liga, is going back to Real Madrid, as they also have an 11-point lead over runner-up Barcelona. However, there is one league that is currently being fought for by three teams: England’s Premier League, considered by many commentators to be the best domestic league in the entire world, is between current champions Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool.
The title race in the Premier League is the closest that it has been in several years. As of now, Arsenal is on top of the table with 77 points, followed by Liverpool with 74. In third is Manchester City with 73. Below the top three is a battle for fourth place between Aston Villa and the Tottenham Spurs, who both have had great seasons. As of now, Villa has 66 points while Tottenham has 60, but Tottenham has two games in hand and could tie Aston Villa. Whoever finishes fourth will earn a spot in next year’s Champions League. It’s important to note that Liverpool has one game less played than Arsenal and Manchester City has two games less than them. If City manages to win both games, they would go to the top of the table with 79, with all of the teams being equal in matches played. However, if they tie, they only earn one point, and losing would mean that they stay with 73 points. At this point, every game is key for all three teams.
For Manchester City, achieving back-to-back championships is extremely important. They have arguably the best team in soccer, with some of the best players on the planet, including Eerling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne, and Phil Foden. Just last week they were eliminated by Real Madrid in a penalty shootout in the Champions League quarter-finals. This was a tough loss, as Manchester City was the reigning champion and favorite to win the tournament. Last season, they had the best season in team history, winning the Champions League, the Premier League, and the FA Cup, achieving the desired treble that only a handful of teams have achieved in their lifetimes. Manchester City has won the Premier League seven times in the last 12 years. Some attribute this to the investments the club received from owner Sheikh Mansour who, at one point, made Manchester City the wealthiest club in the world. The investments were reflected in the number of players recruited as well as bringing in one of the best coaches of all time, Josep “Pep” Guardiola.
Arsenal currently sits on top of the table and have enormous pressure to win the Premier League this season. One of the younger squads in the league, they led the league last season for 248 days and were eight points clear heading into April. However, they only managed to win two out of the eight games remaining; with City winning 11 straight to finish the season, they ended up losing the title. Arsenal is one of the bigger teams in the Premier League and hasn’t won the Premier League since their “invincibles” 2004 season. However, in the last few seasons, they have made key additions such as coach Mikel Arteta and players Martin Oodgeard, Declan Rice, Gabriel Jesus, and academy player Bukayo Saka. With a team that also includes other great players, Arsenal’s only remaining possibility to win a trophy relies on the Premier League as they lost last week to Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Liverpool was the last team to win the Premier League that wasn’t Manchester City back in the 2019-20 season. This is also the last season with current manager Jürgen Klopp, who coached Liverpool for almost nine years and went on to win the Champions League, the FA Cup, and the Premier League. Liverpool fans and the team adore him, but he announced that he would be retiring at the end of this season. Liverpool was also looking to achieve a treble of their own this season. They competed in the Europa League but got eliminated by Italian side Atalanta in a surprise upset. However, they’ve managed to win the Carabao Cup against Manchester United and would love to send off Klopp by making it two trophies this season by winning the Premier League.
With only four or five games remaining for some Premier League teams, every game is vital. For Manchester City, Arsenal, and Liverpool, losing a game or even finishing with a tie at this stage would most likely cost them their chance at winning the league. Out of the schedules, the City has the easiest remaining, with their toughest opponent Tottenham. Arsenal has two major opponents left, playing Tottenham as well as Manchester United. Finally, Liverpool has Aston Villa and Tottenham remaining. The most likely outcome is that City is champion once again, but it’s not over until the season finishes.
