Chelsea may have endured their worst Premier League campaign of the Roman Abramovich era, but a place in the Europa League could still be their's with a little help from Manchester United, Manchester City and Liverpool.
Should City fail to win the Champions League and United and Liverpool lift the FA Cup and Europa League respectively then the Premier League will earn an extra place in the Champions League via Liverpool's Europa victory, while a potential United success in the FA Cup would ensure both themselves and either Watford or Crystal Palace a place in the Europa League next season, with two places reserved for Premier League finishing positions.
Assuming United end the season fifth and Liverpool finish sixth or seventh, eighth place would qualify for a Europa League position. At the moment, Chelsea are trailing eighth place Southampton by eight points, so their hopes of European football still seem like nothing more than an incredibly ambitious dream even if the aforementioned events all occur.
However, Southampton's final three matches are all tricky affairs against Manchester City, Tottenham and Crystal Palace while Guus Hiddink's men have a game in hand yet their matches are equally as difficult as Southampton's; Spurs, Sunderland, Liverpool and Leicester.
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Ronald Koeman and Guus Hiddink will both be keeping their fingers crossed watching City, Liverpool and United over the next few weeks.
(H/T 101 Great Goals)
Topics: Chelsea, Europa League, Football, Southampton, Premier League