With the announcement that the top four has become the top five in the Premier League this has given extended hope to Chelsea and Manchester City that their seasons may not be quite dead. Of course Chelsea are still involved in the Europa Conference League and have a great chance to win it. But domestically in the league both super giants of football have been close to dreadful. This is compounded of course when you look at the amount of quality in the sides, the budget and infrastructure and let's not forget these two clubs have won the Champions League in the last four years. On their day both sides have looked excellent but those days have been few and far between and incredibly the biggest surprise has been the lack of consistency. And yet here we are after having below par seasons and trailing the league leaders Liverpool by 20 points Chelsea and City still have a chance to qualify for the Champions League. Perhaps the most damning account lies with the champions who for 3 months this season could not buy a win, they were anyone's plaything and still they may qualify for the most elite club competition. So what gives? Well this just underlines that overall this has not been a memorable season in what is often seen as the best league in the world.
The Champions League threw up some brilliant quarter final games and leading the pack are Arsenal. Set to lose out on the league title could the Gunners surprise everyone and finally win the European Cup? They beat Real Madrid 5-1 on aggregate to reach the semi finals and put in a superb and mature performance away from home to win that game 2-1. Let's remember that back in 2006 Arsenal knocked Real Madrid out of the same competition and beat them away from home also. That year they faced Barcelona in the final and lost. If all goes to plan they would again meet Barcelona. For Kylian Mbappe his big move to Madrid looks underwhelming. It would be ironic if his old team PSG were to finally win the competition once he left. PSG of course knocked out Aston Villa but at least Villa gave it a go and almost came back in the 2nd leg as they won 3-2. Perhaps that shows that PSG are fragile after all and Arsenal will take some comfort from that. In the other games Barcelona received a scare from Borussia Dortmund but got through and Inter Milan knocked out a fighting Bayern Munich as that 2nd leg finished 2-2. All four clubs look strong and it is hard to separate them but let's look at what the market says.
To win the Champions League: Barcelona 3.25, PSG 3.50, Arsenal 3.75, Inter Milan 4.50
The future of Marcus Rashford seems up in the air when the season ends. Rashford has excelled with his current loan move to Aston Villa but manager Unai Emery has admitted it would be difficult to keep the player. It is clear that Villa would like to keep Rashford but a possible transfer fee and his wages may scupper that. At the same time a return to Manchester United does not look good under current manager Ruben Amorim. Both Amorim and Rashford have no love for one another and both seem too stubborn to overcome that. Rashford has settled in well at Villa and there is a chance that the club could qualify for Champions League football next season he will be hoping that a deal can be ironed out however he will need to be realistic and understand that if he is not to return to Amorim's United then he will need to take a pay cut which could see him lose 50% of his earnings. What is more important right now money or personal happiness? We will find out the answer in a few months.
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