Premier League will officially come to an end on Sunday, 26 July 2020 as all the clubs are scheduled to play their last Premier League game of the season on the said day. Though Liverpool football club won the Premier League after Chelsea football club defeated the second-placed Manchester City on June 25, there is still a lot the followers of the league can look forward to.
Premier League: Champions League qualification Battle
One of the battles that will be settled on Sunday is the battle that will produce two clubs that will join Liverpool and Manchester City in Europe next season. The battle involves 3rd placed Manchester United with 63 points and 28 goals difference, 4th placed Chelsea with 63 points and 13 goals difference, and 5th placed Leicester City with 62 points and 28 goals difference.
Manchester United will face Leicester City on the last matchday. All Manchester United have to do is to get a point from the match and their 3rd place finish is secured. While Leicester City is condemned to win the match with any goal margin to make it through.
In the other hand, Chelsea will face Wolves. All they also need to do is to get at least a point from the match in order to secure a 4th place finish at the end of the day. However, a win will be better so that they can go 3rd if Manchester United draw or lose to Leicester City.
If Chelsea lose to Wolves and Leicester win United, Chelsea will drop to the 5th spot while Leicester City will take the 3rd spot and Manchester United will drop to 4th spot due to better goals difference.
If both matches end in a draw, the status quo will remain. But if Leicester City draw with United and Chelsea lose to Wolves, Frank Lampard and his men will drop because Leicester have better goal difference.
So, the safest team among the three is Manchester United. The only scenario that can make them drop is if they lose to Leicester City and Chelsea win over Wolves on Sunday.
Europa League qualification battle
Another battle that will be settled on Sunday is Europa League qualification. Those in contention as far as this category is concerned are 6th placed Wolves with 59 points and 13 goals difference, and 7th placed Tottenham Hotspur with 58 points and 14 goals difference.
Both teams can not finish lower than on the 7th spot no matter what happens on Sunday. The struggle between them is who will finish 6th, a guarantee Europa League qualification spot.
Naturally, if a club finish 7th, such a club will qualify for the next season Europa League but this season, that can not be ascertained because if Arsenal win Chelsea in the Emirate FA Cup on August 1, 10th placed Arsenal will automatically take the Europa League slot which should be for the 7th placed club.
Hence, Tottenham is condemned to win Crystal Palace to guarantee a 6th placed finish but if Wolves win Chelsea, Wolves will remain 6th ahead of Tottenham. However, if Wolves lose or draw with Chelsea and Tottenham win Crystal Palace, Jose Mourinho and his men will finish 6th.
Premier League Relegation Battle
Another important battle that will be settled on Sunday is, who will drop from the Premier League to the Championship. Norwich City is already condemned, they have been relegated.
As it stands, the battle involves 17th placed Aston Villa with 34 points and -26 goals difference, 18th placed Watford with 34 points and -27 goals difference, and 19th placed Bournemouth with 31 points and -27 goals difference.
The question now is, which two clubs among these three will join relegated Norwich City? The answer is simple. Aston Villa must beat 15th placed West Ham United in their home to survive the drop. Watford must beat Arsenal to survive the drop. And Bournemouth must beat Everton to fancy a chance of surviving.
The only chance Bournemouth has is to win Everton without conceding a goal and hope that Aston Villa and Watford will lose their matches by conceding at least two goals each.
If Aston Villa win without conceding a goal, Watford win but concede a goal, and Bournemouth win but concede a goal, it means that Aston Villa will scale through while Watford and Bournemouth will join Norwich City to drop out of the league. A goalless draw is good enough for Aston Villa if the other two teams lose while a win is good enough for Watford if the other two teams lose. A 2-0 win is good enough for Bournemouth if the other two teams lose without scoring a goal.
Premier League: the battle for the Golden Boot
One of the individual awards that strikers will be looking forward to grabbing on Sunday is the highest goalscorer award (Golden Boot).
Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy is currently topping the chart with 23 goals and he is closely followed by Southampton’s Danny Ings with 21 goals and then Arsenal’s Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Vardy is the most likely player that will win this but scoring a goal or two against Manchester United on Sunday will go a long way to guarantee such an opportunity. Ings need to score a hat-trick against Sheffield United to surpass Vardy or score two goals to be a joint top scorer if Vardy fails to score against United.
While Aubameyang needs to score a hat-trick against Watford on Sunday to be a joint top scorer for the second time in a row or score at least four goals against Watford to surpass the first two top scorers if they fail to score on Sunday.
The battle for the Golden Glove
Another individual award that will be up for grab on Sunday is the Golden Glove award. This award is given to a goalkeeper who has kept the highest number of clean sheets in a single Premier League season.
Those in contention this season are Manchester City’s Ederson and Burnley’s Nick Pope. They are both on 15 goals and this season could be the first time they will clinch the award.
Ederson’s 2nd placed Manchester City will face relegated Norwich City while Nick Pope’s 9th placed Burnley will face 16th placed Brighton. If Ederson keeps another clean sheet and Nick Pope doesn’t, the Manchester City’s star will grab the award and vis-a-vis.
However, if they both fail to keep a clean sheet for their clubs on Sunday, they will share the award since they are on an equal number of clean sheets.
Here are the Premier League last Matchday fixtures for 2019-2020 season:
Arsenal vs Watford – 4 pm
Burnley vs Brighton – 4 pm
Chelsea vs Wolves – 4 pm
Crystal Palace vs Tottenham – 4 pm
Everton vs Bournemouth – 4 pm
Leicester vs Man Utd – 4 pm
Man City vs Norwich – 4 pm
Newcastle vs Liverpool – 4 pm
Southampton vs Sheffield United – 4 pm
West Ham vs Aston Villa – 4 pm
