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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Tom Blow

Pundits disagree on top four favourites as race for Champions League spots heats up

It's almost impossible to predict who will qualify for next season's Champions League, yet it's the job of pundits and journalists to make those difficult calls.

Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea are pretty much nailed on to finish in the top three this season, leaving five teams to battle it out for fourth place.

At the moment, West Ham are leading the race. David Moyes' team, however, are only one point ahead of Arsenal in fifth having played two games more.

Manchester United in sixth are also just a point behind with a game in hand on the Hammers, while Tottenham are four points off the final Champions League spot.

Although they've lost two consecutive Premier League games, Spurs do have three games in hand on West Ham and remain well in the hunt.

Who do you think will finish fourth? Let us know in the comments below!

Top four rivals Arsenal and Wolves came up against each other on Thursday evening (Stuart MacFarlane/Getty Images)

The final team still in the fight are Wolves - sitting six points behind the Hammers with two games in hand - although they suffered a defeat to Arsenal on Thursday evening.

United remain the favourites

It's tricky to predict which team will win the lucrative race, although former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole believes Ralf Rangnick's United will just edge it.

"Spurs brought in a couple of players who were struggling to get into what I consider a poor, for their standards, Juventus team," Cole told Coral earlier this month.

"I have watched them a few times this year and covered two live games and they’re not the Juventus of even two years ago.

"So while they are decent players, do they really improve the Tottenham squad?

"Maybe slightly, but it’s almost like nobody wanted to really pull the trigger in that little bracket of teams and go and gamble on a big signing to really make a difference.

Manchester United are being tipped to finish fourth (Getty Images)

"You have to respect that because you don’t want a situation where a team overspends and things go very wrong but I don’t think any team chasing fourth have really added anything significant.

"So it’ll be down to what we’ve seen so far and I think Manchester United are still in the driving seat."

Speaking after the midweek results, former United stars Rio Ferdinand and Robbie Savage also backed their old club to win the race.

"There's always hope [for United], Ferdinand told BT Sport.

"There's no one fighting for the top four who is standing out as the leading, consistent candidate, who can string five wins together or go unbeaten for 10 games. It's up for grabs.

"No one - Arsenal, West Ham, Man United, Spurs especially - can say they have consistent performances and results to stake a claim.

"They're all looking at each other going, 'I don't know what they're going to do but I don't know what we're going to do either.'

"I think Man United will get there. They'll get the goals to win the right amount of games to keep them in the top four... but I can't be overly confident about that."

Savage added: "I've gone for United to finish fourth - if they start [Cristiano] Ronaldo every week. [Liverpool forward Diogo] Jota is getting lots of praise, rightly so, 17 goals.

"Ronaldo's got 14 goals in a team that creates fewer chances. Where I think they'll struggle is with playing a high line like Liverpool.

"I don't think Man Utd can play a high line and win the ball high and press higher up because they're scared of the pace in behind.

"That is a big problem for Man Utd. If they want to implement Rangnick's style of pressing high and winning the ball in the final third, I think United might struggle."

Others still in the hunt

Tottenham suffered a blow to their top four hopes after losing to Southampton on Wednesday evening (Elli Birch/IPS/REX/Shutterstock)

Although Cole, Ferdinand and Savage have all backed the Red Devils, former United striker Michael Owen believes Tottenham can win their games in hand and take fourth.

"You can make a case for any [of those teams]. It could literally be any of them. I'm going to go for Tottenham if they keep their big players fit.

"[Harry] Kane is starting to get back to the Kane of old, if they can keep Son fit... [manager Antonio] Conte looks like he's turning it around a little bit at Tottenham.

"It's a toss of a coin. It's going to be a great race for fourth, it's going to keep us entertained. Let's hope the title race is open as well until the end of the season.

West Ham are leading the Champions League chase (Getty Images)

"Any of those four, I couldn't really argue but I'm just going to go with Tottenham."

Arsenal legend Ian Wright, meanwhile, has backed West Ham to finish the job. "I'll say West Ham are favourites because West Ham are right there," said Wright.

On the Gunners' hopes, Wright added: "Arsenal are in a place where a lot of people didn’t think they would be.

"When the season started, with the signings that Arsenal made, people were saying things like, 'He’s a waste of money! Why have they spent so much money on him?!'

"And he’s kind of got the team… when you consider how they started, three losses and bottom of the league, and then they started to get it going and the players started to find their feet.

"Now they’re getting into a situation where other teams are slipping up, they’re starting to find a little bit of form... all Arsenal need to do is continue what they’re doing, nick a few more goals and see if you can stay amongst it."

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