London fight on for Europe

Europe calling ... but which London teams won't make it. Source:AFP

Europe's calling for three of London?s biggest clubs - but only two will be invited to the party, and it will be an expensive rejection for which one of Arsenal, Tottenham and Chelsea miss out on UEFA Champions League qualification for next season.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	30	25	2	3	39	77
2	Man City	30	18	8	4	29	62
3	Tottenham	31	17	6	8	15	57
4	Chelsea	30	16	7	7	27	55
5	Arsenal	30	15	8	7	26	53
6	Everton	30	13	12	5	12	51
7	Liverpool	31	13	9	9	19	48
8	West Brom	31	13	5	13	0	44
9	Swansea	31	10	10	11	1	40
10	Fulham	30	10	9	11	-3	39
11	West Ham	30	10	6	14	-9	36
12	Southampton	31	8	10	13	-9	34
13	Stoke	31	7	13	11	-9	34
14	Norwich	31	7	13	11	-19	34
15	Newcastle	31	9	6	16	-15	33
16	Sunderland	31	7	10	14	-10	31
17	Wigan	30	8	6	16	-20	30
18	Aston Villa	31	7	9	15	-26	30
19	QPR	31	4	11	16	-23	23
20	Reading	31	5	8	18	-25	23

For Arsene Wenger, he can salvage some pride after another trophyless campaign  – or face the real prospect of his policies and philosophies suffering the ultimate failure. 

For Andre Villas-Boas, he can enjoy the last laugh over Roman Abramovich and provide the carrot for Gareth Bale to remain at White Hart Lane. 

For Chelsea, failure would leave owner Roman Abramovich with egg on his face after his lavish recruitment spree and polarising decision to axe UCL-winning manager Roberto Di Matteo to replace him with the unpopular Rafael Benitez. 

And the only thing worse than missing out on the biggest club competition in world football?

Seeing your two big city rivals prosper in your place. 

Only Everton, two points further back on 51 points and Liverpool, on 48 points, are the other teams in contention, but the big bickies in Europe look like staying in the capital. 

TOTTENHAM (games 31, won 17, draw 6, lost 8, goal difference, 15, points 57) 

The next three rounds will be decisive as Spurs aim to avoid last year's effort, where they blew a 10-point lead over Arsenal. 

Villas-Boas has said he thinks 70-72 points is the cut-off - a tough yardstick given Everton at home, Chelsea away and Manchester City at home are their immediate challenges. 

Gareth Bale’s staggering form has hogged the headlines, but they owe a fair bit of credit to Jan Vertonghen, as well. 

The Belgian defender surmised: "We’re up there in third, we’re in the quarter-finals of the Europa League and we can be happy where we are, but now we have to finish it, to finish in the top four and go as far as possible in the Europa League.

"We needed to get back on a run and Swansea away isn’t the easiest game, they made it tough for us but we won and we’re very happy.

"We’d lost three games in a row (including Inter) so there was some pressure at Swansea. It was difficult after international week but the lads did well and it was an important win for us."

The reward for Spurs if they can negotiate a tricky period - which also features a Europa League tie against Basle - then matches against Wigan, Southampton, Stoke and Sunderland await. 

CHELSEA (G 30, W 16, D 7, L 7, GD 27, P 55)

Pain in the league against Southampton was sandwiched in between progress to an FA Cup semi-final. 

It's time for the big, expensive guns to stand up under pressure. Demba Ba did just that against Manchester United, but Rafa Benitez needs to get the best out of expensive recruits Eden Hazard, Oscar, Juan Mata and, of course, Fernando Torres, in the run-in. That's not to mention some stability at the back, either. What to do with John Terry? 

Failure to do so will leave Abramovich red-faced, given the club's recruitment strategy and inability to retain a manager for an extended period. 

Chelsea No.1 Petr Cech was not impressed after the weekend's loss - bemused by inconsistency from a squad that doesn't have the depth in quality it used to, as they notched a third straight away loss. 

"We had a spell where we played better away than at home and now it’s been reversed,” said Cech.

"But we have to keep going. We put ourselves in a place where winning this game we would have had us in a good position.

A massive six-pointer against Tottenham looms on April 14 at Stamford Bridge, but Liverpool, Manchester United and Everton also feature in the run home. 

ARSENAL (G 30, W 15, D 8, L 7, GD 26, P  53)

Arsene Wenger's side, outsiders for now, might just hold the cards. 

Form is brewing - five wins from their past six and the most comfortable run home and schedule of their rivals - just two top-10 rivals and no other distractions. 

And the tone around the club is brightening.  

"In the past, we've been accused of starting slowly and I think that's something we've changed, especially in the last month," Aaron Ramsey told the club's official website. 

"We've started off on the front foot, defended high up the pitch and won the ball back in dangerous areas. We did that plenty of times (against Reading)."

Fluency has returned to the side. 

"I think you could see that we played without any hesitation and with the handbrake off. We created a lot of opportunities and we defended well apart from the goal we conceded. On the whole, we're delighted with the win," he added.

Striker Olivier Giroud added: "We want to be ambitious and keep our focus. The championship is until May 19. There’s eight games to play and a lot of points to play for.

"I trust in our ¬qualities so I really think we can make fourth and maybe even third place if we continue to play like this.

"We want to dictate the games. We are confident. We are used to finishing the championship well. And this season we will do the same.

"Spurs have to play against Manchester City and Chelsea so they are hard games.

"But every game is difficult, we can see that Chelsea lost at Southampton. We have to keep focus, concentrated and strong.

"We are scoring lots of goals. We need to be more concentrated when we are defending because we need more clean sheets because we dominate games. But we are playing well."

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