Chelsea and Villa ensure top-five race will go down to the wire

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Football writer Alex Keble analyses important wins for Chelsea and Aston Villa in the race for UEFA Champions League football next season, while Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester United's focus turns to Wednesday's Europa League final.

It’s going to be a nervy final day.

Of all the things we learnt from Aston Villa’s and Chelsea’s respective wins on Friday night, what came through most clearly was the tension in this race for Champions League football.

Chelsea remain in control – for now – and yet they looked considerably more anxious than Villa, squeezing over the line at Stamford Bridge courtesy of a moment of brilliance from Reece James, whose spin and cross for Marc Cucurella ensured Enzo Maresca’s side have it in their hands.

A win at Nottingham Forest on the final day will do it. Anything less and Villa, who sit just two points off second this evening, can qualify ahead of them.

There is still everything to play for and, thanks to three points for both Chelsea and Villa on Friday night, renewed pressure on Manchester City and Arsenal.

Chelsea’s reliance on full-backs is not a good sign for Forest challenge

This was never going to be an easy game for Chelsea.

Ruben Amorim’s angry response to his side’s 2-0 defeat against West Ham United last weekend ensured Man Utd would turn up here, and they certainly did, a full-strength team pushing Chelsea all the way.

The visitors had their moments, in the first half in particular, when Patrick Dorgu continually found space down the left behind a wayward Pedro Neto. The highlight of this early tactical imbalance saw Harry Maguire rifle a Dorgu cross into the net only for the VAR to find a marginal offside.

Those couple of centimetres could be the difference between Chelsea playing Champions League or Europa League football next season, although on this evidence Forest may give us one final twist.

Maguire’s brilliant hit was by far the most convincing piece of centre-forward play on the match.

Tyrique George, deputising for the suspended Nicolas Jackson, laboured up front on his full Premier League debut, while Rasmus Hojlund was again out-of-sorts for United.

Chelsea will need a better No 9 presence at the City Ground, where Forest have conceded only 15 goals, the joint-fewest in the Premier League alongside Liverpool’s record at Anfield.

Their winner tonight relied upon a wonderful cross from one full-back and a finish from the other, Cucurella. It’s hard to imagine Forest’s defenders losing track of both players in quite the same way.

Cucurella's winner v Man Utd

Villa’s confidence a sign they will take this battle to the end

The task was much simpler for Villa, who faced a much-changed Spurs side clearly more concerned with resting players for the Europa League final.

That wasn’t such a surprise. But what ought to be was the way Spurs went about their business, dropping into a low-block 4-4-2, playing ultra-defensive, counter-attacking football for the very first time under Ange Postecoglou.

There are some pretty big extenuating circumstances here of course, and indeed a low block is a decent way to stunt a Villa team without the line-breaking Youri Tielemans.

Nevertheless, their journey away from dogmatic, kamikaze attacking football was completed here. Spurs held 31 per cent possession, by far their lowest share of the season.

Villa had to work hard to build through Spurs’ defensive shape and credit to Unai Emery for tweaking his tactics after a stilted first half, moving Matty Cash into a back three - stopping Son Heung-min’s dangerous counters down that side - and pulling Morgan Rogers wider.

Rogers helped Villa attack with greater purpose, indirectly leading to their breakthrough.

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Elsewhere, Ollie Watkins and Marco Asensio both stood out in a confident display of attacking football that contrasted with what we saw at Chelsea.

For that reason alone, Villa fans can remain confident their team will finish the job at Old Trafford on Sunday – and take advantage of any slip.

That slip could still come from Man City, who need to avoid defeat at home to AFC Bournemouth four days after the FA Cup final to go back above Villa.

Incredibly, not even Arsenal are safe. Indeed if Forest win at West Ham on Sunday, just three points will separate second from seventh.

For neutrals, it should be a hugely entertaining final week. For those with skin in the game, the tension will be almost unbearable.

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Man Utd look better prepped for Europa League final despite defeat

Man Utd are winless in eight Premier League matches, their most since 1990. They have now lost 18 in the league, their highest tally since 1973/74.

Those kinds of statistics have been all-too common since Amorim’s appointment, and yet despite the result, the United head coach was relatively pleased with their preparation for Wednesday's Europa League final.

“It was the good things we talked about before the game,” Amorim told Sky Sports, in praise of his team’s performance. “We had some moments, we improved the way we play football, we pressed quite well, we had some chances.

“We had good build up until the last third, but then we missed something.”

There were some sharp passages of football, particularly through a midfield of Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes and Mason Mount, that suggested Amorim’s side can get the better of an injury-hit Spurs midfield.

Postecoglou’s decision to rest so many players makes it difficult to judge their preparation, but it’s fair to say Man Utd showed more tonight than Spurs over the last few matches, even if they struggled to create clear-cut chances.

Amad was again lively, reasserting his importance to the Amorim project, while Harry Maguire led commandingly from the back.

These are small victories, minor points. But with the Europa League finalists sat 17th and 16th in the Premier League, any positive signs are worth paying attention to, and right now Man Utd look sharper and more cohesive than Spurs.

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