As Newcastle United gets ready for their last Premier League game of the season, two well-known commentators have spoken out.
Chris Sutton and Paul Merson, two sports experts, have different ideas about how Newcastle United’s last Premier League game of the season will end.
The Newcastle team is aware that they are in one of the closest races for European football in recent years as they journey to Brentford on Sunday. The only thing that worries them is that they won’t find out what happened until a long time after the campaign is over.
It is true that seven Premier League teams will be playing in European games next season. The teams that are going to the Champions League are Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Aston Villa. After that, Tottenham Hotspur is expected to finish fifth and get a spot in the Europa League.
This leaves two spots open for the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. However, the FA Cup final next weekend will have an effect because Manchester United is playing. Erik ten Hag’s team will play in the Europa League next year if they win, and the sixth-placed team will play in the Conference League. If they lose, the sixth-placed team will play in the Europa League, and the seventh-placed team will play in the Conference League.
Eddie Howe thinks that his team needs to win in order to have the best chance of qualifying for either competition. But will this be possible at a field where they have won both of their previous visits?
Sutton told BBC Sport that he thought the game would end in a 2-2 tie. “Brentford’s form has been getting better lately, and they will want to end the season on a high note, at home on the last day,”
“To make sure they finish seventh, Newcastle United need to at least tie Manchester United’s score against Brighton.” That’s what I think Eddie Howe’s team will do, but it won’t be easy.
Merson, on the other hand, thinks the visiting team will win 2-1, which is a much better result.
“Newcastle need to win this; if Chelsea lose, they have a chance of making it into next season’s Europa League due to their superior goal difference,” he wrote in Sportskeeda. “They had a good season, but they got really lucky in the Champions League.” You could also say they were too trusting of Paris Saint-Germain, but that’s just part of the process of learning.
On Sunday, Mauricio Pochettino’s Chelsea have 60 points, while Newcastle and Manchester United both have 57 points. The Magpies have the best goal difference with 21, followed by Chelsea with 13, and then Man United with a terrible -3.
Based on both Sutton’s and Merson’s predictions for those games, Howe’s team would finish the season in seventh place and have a chance to qualify for the Europa Conference League. Chelsea would host Bournemouth, Man United would travel to Brighton, and Newcastle would be playing.
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