The title was sown up more than a week ago, Tottenham Hotspur are assured of the dubious honour of being runners-up, and we already know which three teams are going to be playing in the Championship next season.

All in all, this afternoon’s final day of the season – often a tense and enthralling session of football – looks like it will be as much fun as watching milk turn sour.

There is, however, one final bit of excitement we can wring from the tatty remains of the season – the battle for the final two Champions League slots.

As it stands, Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal are fighting it out for the two remaining places – although you have to say Arsene Wenger’s team are clinging to the dream by their fingertips. Possibly just the nails.

Not only are they bringing up the rear in this trio of hopefuls – one point behind Liverpool and three behind City – they have the toughest opponents in the form of Everton.

You never-say-never in football, but it really does look like Wenger’s two decades of qualifying for Europe’s premier competition is about to come to a shuddering halt.

It’s probably right that Arsenal step aside and let a team with a bit more ambition have a turn

Arsenal fans will lament that fact, and rightly so, but let’s be honest, it’s not as if they regularly set the Champions League alight with their performances. Just one appearance in a final in 20 years suggests they are merely happy to be invited to the party, eat the dips and watch as someone else drives the supermodel home for coffee.

On that basis, it’s probably right that they will have to step aside and let a team with a bit more ambition have a turn.

When the dust settles on this afternoon’s games there is even the possibility that we could end up with any two of these three teams on identical records. Not only are they within three points of each other, their goal difference and goal scored columns are almost identical as well.

That would mean a play-off for the final Champions League place, which would be unique, unusual and exciting. I stand to be corrected but I don’t think there has ever been a play-off in England for a European place, certainly not in my lifetime.

Sadly I can’t see it happening this year either.

These situations always seem to have a way of sorting themselves out without the need for extra games. A last gasp equaliser here, an injury time winner there.

Then the final whistles will blow, champagne will be popped, tears will flow, Wenger will announce his immediate departure and the 83-day wait for the new season will begin. Not that I’m counting…

Should have been moved

Jose Mourinho is absolutely right – Manchester United’s game with Crystal Palace should have been played earlier.

The Old Trafford boss was furious that his team have to play their final league game today, just three days before they are due in Stockholm to play the Europa League final.

He said that in “any other country in the world” the football authorities would have moved the match to help with the European game. And I think that is probably pretty accurate.

Of course, if there was anything riding on the match with Palace – promotion, relegation, Champions League slot, etc – then moving it would have been wrong.

But as I said above there is very little left to play for this season, and certainly nothing that involves these two teams. Moving this one game would have given United the chance to field a better prepared and more rested team against Ajax.

The Premier League, however, doesn’t see it that way. They want their precious schedule to go ahead unaltered.

And then we wonder why English teams are failing in Europe.

Worthy winners

I made no secret of the fact that I was hoping Spurs would pull off a miracle and win the Premiership. I like the way they play, I like their manager and I like that their team has an English backbone.

However, personal preference aside, you have to say that Chelsea are very worthy champions.

I didn’t give them much chance back in May as I thought Antonio Conte would struggle with the pace, demands and competitivity of the Premier League. I was wrong.

Not playing in Europe was a bonus for Chelsea this season as it meant they had less games to play, less miles to fly and less stress to cope with.

True, it won’t have helped financially and it has probably scuppered Roman Abramovich’s plans to cash in the club’s air miles for a free flight to Benidorm, but overall I think their enforced European absence was a contributing factor in their league triumph.

But even without the distraction of Europe, Conte had to find a way of turning a team of failures (let’s face it, that’s what they were last season) back into winners.

And he did that through a combination of clever man-management, motivational skills and tactical expertise – switching to a 3-4-3 formation was an act of genius.

So hats off to Conte for proving me wrong so comprehensively, which I am pretty sure he is finding even more satisfying than the title itself.

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade

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