Reminder: three games today that are still part of this gameweek:
Everton - Palace 2:45 pm
Villa - Burnley 3:00
Chelsea - Leicester 3:00
Not much will happen today re: the top of the table. Chelsea has a CL spot sewn up and are almost certainly going to finish third; they would have to lose today to have any chance of slipping to fourth (but no further).
Of course the bottom of the table is a different matter. Watford and Norwich are already relegated. The 18th spot is still not settled. Going into today's games - note that Leeds do not play today, and also would lose any GD tiebreaker:
16th: |
Everton |
36 pts |
(-20 GD) |
vs Palace today
@ Arsenal Sunday |
17th: |
Leeds |
35 pts |
(-38 GD) |
@Brentford Sunday |
18th: |
Burnley |
34 pts |
(-18 GD)
|
@Villa today
vs Newcastle Sunday |
Everton control their own destiny. If Everton win today they are safe. Two points from their two games would give Everton an insurmountable lead over Leeds, so whether or not Burnley catch Leeds, or catch Everton, is irrelevant to Everton - Leeds is odd man out.
If Everton draw or lose today, nothing is decided one way or the other, for anyone. Of course, if everyone loses out then nothing changes and Burnley go down.
Burnley cannot assure safety by winning today but it would help a lot. A win puts Burnley at 37 points, two ahead of Leeds going into Sunday with the GD tiebreaker against Leeds. If Burnley win and Everton draw today, then both would be at 37 with Burnley having at least a 3 goal lead in GD. If Burnley win and Everton lose, then Burnley is alone in 16th going into Sunday.
A Burnley draw puts them level on 35 with Leeds going into Sunday with the GD tiebreaker, and with the ability to pass Everton also on Sunday if Everton if Everton lose or draw today. Of course Burnley need only to finish ahead of one of them.
A Burnley loss today means they can escape the drop with a draw on Sunday AND a Leeds loss, OR a win on Sunday AND either a Leeds draw or loss OR Everton getting no more than 2 points (and even then they'd have to come out ahead on the GD, which would not be guaranteed).
Leeds are in the most trouble. Their one-point margin over Burnley going into today only matters if Burnley loses both. If Burnley gets 1/6 then Leeds must win and hope that Everton get no more than 1/6. So realistically Leeds really needs Burnley to lose today, and it would be very helpful if Everton lost also. If both Everton and Burnley get something today then Leeds' path becomes very narrow. If both Everton and Burnley win today, then Leeds can't catch Everton; Leeds must win on Sunday and Burnley must lose.