Nottingham Forest’s Champions League dream starts to fade away following their poor run of results in the Premier League
- Anweshan Ghosh
- 2 days ago
- 2 min read
Nottingham Forest were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw against Crystal Palace on Monday, which saw them fall down to the sixth spot in the Premier League points table.
Forest stand currently two points behind fifth-placed Chelsea following a poor run of results since the beginning of April, turning their glorious hunt for a Champions League spot upside down after having spent almost the entire season in the top three.
Palace, who sit 12th in the Premier League points table, produced a stellar performance against Nuno Espírito’s team and could've easily snatched all three points from their hands.
Star man Eberechi Eze scored a composed penalty to give the hosts an early lead, which was later cancelled out by Murillo’s equalising goal for Forest, which came from a deflected shot by Neco Williams. The game eventually ended with a goal apiece for both sides, as they also walked away with a point each.
Putting up a solid attacking display yesterday, Crystal Palace attempted a staggering 20 shots and recorded an xG of 2.32 compared to Nottingham's 0.73 as per Opta, which reflected their dominance on the night.
Nuno’s men will next face a struggling Leicester City side on Sunday in what is a must-win game to keep their hopes of securing Champions League qualification alive.
The race for Champions League qualification is heating up in the Premier League
From this season onwards, the Premier League has been granted five spots in the Champions League, which leaves more spots for the teams to fight for, further increasing the intensity in the race for the top-most competition of Europe.
Liverpool, who were crowned as the champions of England last Sunday, have automatically secured a spot in the Champions League next season, being the only team in the Premier League at the moment to have done so.
Arsenal’s recent form has seen them fall way behind the champions and enter the battle for a top 5 finish, being just 3 points ahead of Manchester City and just 4 points ahead of Newcastle United and Chelsea.
Manchester City, who currently stand at 3rd place after managing to turn their season around completely, still have everything to play for as they face tough competition not only from Arsenal, Newcastle, and Chelsea, but even from Nottingham Forest at 6th and Aston Villa at 7th, who are just 3 and 4 points behind them, respectively.
Forest could've moved up to fifth spot, ahead of Chelsea, had they picked up all three points against Crystal Palace on Monday, which only goes on to show how minutely the sides are separated in the top 7 spots in the points table.
However, to make things more interesting, there is a possibility of even six Premier League clubs playing in the Champions League next season, which will happen if either Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur win this season’s UEFA Europa League, currently being in strong positions to reach the final.
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