Not long to go for the Football season to go now with the lower leagues already in playoff mode and the EPL with just three rounds to go. Those three rounds looks likely not to be enough games and time left to save QPR and Burnley who could go down to the Championship this weekend with tough away games. Who will join them remains an open race of 5 teams currently within 2 points of each other. All going in different directions.
Leicester have gone from certain doom to ostrich inspired safety, but are still only 1 point from the drop, and going in the other direction is their opponents from last weekend Newcastle, who have now lost 8 in a row, look terrible, and have a manager accusing players of getting red cards on purpose. Aston Villa have the layers and the momentum to move forward as Hull appear to as well. So that leaves Newcastle’s rivals Sunderland as the team most likely to go down. Their form throughout most of the season wouldn’t look out of place against Blackburn, Derby and Birmingham next season.
Talking of the Championship, the playoffs start Friday night UK time with surprise packets Brentford taking on former EPL regulars Middlesbrough. Both Boro and Derby looked odds on to go straight up with a couple of months to go, not only did both teams not achieve that, Derby didn’t even make the playoffs.
The big game a rung down from the EPL is the Old Farm derby between Ipswich and Norwich. Norwich look the favourite as Ipswich struggle to beat their rivals, however an Ipswich fan can dream for a few weeks at least. Read more on our Play off thoughts right here.
Further down League One kicked off the playoff season Thursday night UK time with two away wins to Preston and Swindon. Hard for Chesterfield and Sheffield United to turn those results around in the second legs, and given Preston’s 0/8 playoff record, one could argue that Swindon have it all to lose. But League One is rarely that simple.
League Two start their playoffs on Saturday night UK Time with Plymouth v Wycombe then Stevenage v Southend on the Sunday night.
Amongst all the above action Chelsea took out the title and deservedly so, they looked the best all season. Hopefully next year someone can sustain a challenge for more than a month, starting with Arsene Wenger beating Mourinho for the first time.
Enjoy the sleepless nights whilst they last, you’ll miss it when it’s gone over the Australian winter.
BLURST BETS
EPL MULTI $1 pays $27
MANCHESTER CITY to beat QPR
ASTON VILLA to beat West Ham
HULL to beat Burnley
DRAW – Everton v Sunderland
UNDER 2.5 GOALS – Chelsea v Liverpool
PLAYOFF MULTI $1 Multi $42
BRENTFORD to beat Middlesbrough
NORWICH to beat Ipswich
PLYMOUTH to beat Wycombe
DRAW – Stevenage v Southend
