'A mammoth effort to stay where we are''
The fight for Champions League football appears to be turning into the race that no-one wants to win. For the second year in a row, it is all but certain that the top five teams in the Premier League will qualify for next season's Champions League. Defeats for Liverpool and Chelsea have opened the door for a team to come out of left-field and clinch a coveted Champions League place.
[Getty Images] The fight for Champions League football appears to be turning into the race that no-one wants to win. For the second year in a row, it is all but certain that the top five teams in the Premier League will qualify for next season's Champions League. But shock defeats and inconsistency means the form of the so-called top sides is falling off a cliff.
Defeats for Liverpool and Chelsea have opened the door for a team to come out of left-field and clinch a coveted Champions League place. Could it be Everton? Brentford?
Even Fulham, 10th-placed Brighton and teams below remain in touch. [BBC] Before Monday's draw with Wolves, Brentford played a video on screens around Gtech Community Stadium showing pre-season predictions from pundits, including Micah Richards and Alan Shearer, who said the Bees would be involved in a relegation battle after losing Thomas Frank to Tottenham. The video ended by playing lyrics from Stormzy's song Shut Up, with those two words displayed in giant letters across the screen.
Under Keith Andrews Brentford have largely done their talking on the pitch. Rather than looking over their shoulders in the relegation battle, they have written their name into the conversation for European qualification - something never done in the club's history. The Bees could not capitalise on teams above them dropping points on Saturday, the goalless draw a missed opportunity to go level on points with Chelsea and edge closer to securing not only a spot in Europe, but a push for the Champions League places.