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The Chase for Europe
ToffeeWeb chronicles the last ten games of this season's run-in
The results from 7 May saw Bolton drop out of the the race for fourth place
with Everton and Liverpool left to compete for the fourth place and Champions
League football next season, but even that struggle was called off before the
final day when Liverpool tripped up once again at Arsenal, and Everton
graciously accepted that all the wild boasts and chest-beating bullshit form
players, managers, and pundits alike predicting Liverpool would take fourth
place had been exposed by Liverpool's consummate inadequacies in the
Premiership.. The Blues finished with a three-point lead over the Reds, who
went on to win the Champions' League trophy, beating AC Milan 4-2 on penalties
after coming back from 3-0 down at half-time to tie the game 3-3.
Results at-a-glance
Final points total in square brackets
| 4th: Everton [61] |
5th: Liverpool [58] |
6th: Bolton [58] |
| Liverpool (A) 1-2 |
Blackburn (H) 0-0 |
Norwich (H) 1-0 |
| West Brom (A) 0-1 |
Everton (H) 2-1 |
Liverpool (A) 0-1 |
| C Palace (H) 4-0 |
Bolton (H) 1-0 |
Fulham (H) 3-1 |
| Man United (H) 1-0 |
Man City (A) 1-2 |
Charlton (A) 2-1 |
| Birmingham (H) 1-1 |
Tottenham (H) 2-2 |
Southampton (H) 1-1 |
| Fulham (A) 0-2 |
Portsmouth (A) 2-1 |
Aston Villa (A) 1-1 |
| Newcastle (H) 2-0 |
C Palace (A) 0-1 |
Chelsea (H) |
| Arsenal (A) 0-7 |
Middlesbrough (H) 1-1 |
Portsmouth (A) 1-1 |
| Bolton (A) 2-3 |
Arsenal (A) 1-3 |
Everton (H) 3-2 |
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Aston Villa (H) 2-1 |
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| 7th: Middlesbro [55] |
11th: Charlton [46] |
9th Tottenham [52] |
| Southampton (H) 1-3 |
Tottenham (H) 2-0 |
Charlton (A) 0-2 |
| C Palace (A) 1-0 |
West Brom (H) 1-4 |
Man City (H) 2-1 |
| Arsenal (H) 0-1 |
Man City (H) 2-2 |
Birmingham (A) 1-1 |
| Newcastle (A) pp |
Portsmouth (A) 2-4 |
Newcastle (H) 1-0 |
| Fulham (H) 1-1 |
Bolton (H) 1-2 |
Liverpool (A) 2-2 |
| West Brom (A) 4-0 |
Aston Villa (A) 0-0 |
West Brom (H) 1-1 |
| Liverpool (A) 1-1 |
Norwich (A) 0-1 |
Arsenal (A) 0-1 |
| Tottenham (H) 1-0 |
Man United (H) 0-4 |
Aston Villa (H) 5-1 |
| Man City (A) 0-1 |
Chelsea (A) 0-1 |
Middlesbrough (A) 0-1 |
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C Palace (H) 2-2 |
Blackburn (H) 0-0 |
The biggest failure over the last 10 games was Charlton, who gained only 6
points and slipped from challenging position to end up in the bottom half of the
Premiership.
England's allocation
Champions League
Uefa permits entry to four teams from each of Europe's top three leagues — La Liga in Spain, Serie A Italy and the FA Premiership in England — to
the European Champions League. The FA have finally confirmed that the top four
teams in England will qualify, following fears that Everton might not be guaranteed
a place if they
finished fourth and Liverpool went on to win the
tournament this season. Since that unbelievable scenario actually
unfolded in Istanbul, with Liverpool stealing the trophy after being
comprehensively outplayed, and cheating in the penalty shoot-out but there is
no guaranteed mechanism for the Champions' League Winners to automatically
defend their title. However Spain set s precedent in
2000, when Real Madrid were but forward for the 2000-01 Champions' League,
bumping 4th-placed Villareal from La Liga, despite finishing 7th.
Uefa Cup
England is granted three places in the Uefa Cup, one for the team finishing 5th in the Premiership, one for the FA Cup winners and one for the winners of the Carling Cup. With
4 games left and a 25-point cushion, Chelsea are guaranteed to qualify for the Champions League, so the Uefa Cup spot they would have been awarded as League Cup winners will now go to the team finishing 6th.
Similarly, a Uefa Cup place is allocated to the FA Cup winners, but both
finalists this year, Arsenal a Manchester United, will qualify for the Champions
League.
So that third and final Uefa Cup place will go to the team that finishes 7th
in the Premiership. With Bolton's draw at Aston Villa on 23 April and
Spurs losing at Arsenal on 25 April,
Everton were certain to finish no lower than 7th and
finally begin to
anticipate the prospect of European football next season for the first time in 10 years
the first time Everton have qualified by virtue of their League placing for an
incredible 25 years!
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