The Top Six Push: Who Will Make It?

The Premier League is back and so is the big push for the all-important top six finish and there are nine teams all playing for those fourth to sixth spots.

Chelsea currently sit in fourth and will be looking forward to playing against nineteenth place Aston Villa to introduce themselves back to competitive football. Their odds are at 1/12 for them to take one of the European places.

They enjoyed some good results before the break like beating Everton 4-0 and seeing four different scorers showing that their goals come from all over the pitch. Frank Lampard will be hoping his young players, Mason Mount and Tammy Abraham, will push his side on to cement one of the European spots.

However, with eight games left of the season, they have arguably the hardest run in of games and they must still face the champions, Liverpool.

In fifth, we currently see Manchester United who will be giving Chelsea their biggest challenge for the fourth-place spot.

Their odds are 2/9 for them to finish the season in one of the spots and the Old Trafford side will be looking at Marcus Rashford to score the goals to make the season successful. He has scored 14 goals so far this and combined with Anthony Martial’s 14, they will prove a threat to anybody in their way at the moment.

United are seemingly on the rise with the likes of Bruno Fernandes and Paul Pogba, but is it enough to crack the top four?

Tottenham Hotspur will be happy to have their vastly experienced manager Jose Mourinho going into the end of the season who knows how to get the results needed. However, they had not won any of their last five games before the break of the season but with no injuries for the London side they will be happy to have Harry Kane and Son Heung-min firing on all cylinders. They are at the odds of 6/4 for them to finish in the top six and with England’s star striker Kane now back and already amongst the goals.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who has 17 goals, and Alexandre Lacazette, seven goals, will be ready to add to their goal tallies to fight for one of those top six spots. Their losses to City and Brighton & Hove Albion have all but destroyed their top four chances.

At 12/1 for them to finish in the top six isn't terrible odds, but Arsenal really have not improved at all under Mikel Arteta just yet.

1/4 odds will see you backing Wolverhampton Wanderers and a lot of teams have struggled with containing the pace of Adama Traore and the skill of Raul Jiménez, who has scored 13 goals so far this season. Their attacking threat could steer the European spot their way and after three wins from three in the league, they are well on course to even battle for the Champions League spots.

Wolves are in a position, however, where they can't afford to drop points with United on the rise and Chelsea continuing to keep adrift of the pack.

Sheffield United have had an amazing first season in the Premier League and they will be hoping to put the cherry on the cake by having the Blades playing European football next season. They currently sit in 7th so have every chance to take 6th by the end of the season. At 28/1, however, you can see why their odds are not as good as the other teams, as they do not have strikers with the same stats as the others.

Their best striker being Lys Mousset who has only scored five goals so far, but they have conceded the second least amount of goals in the league which could be enough for them to take the Europa League place.

By Liam Amos