Newcastle second-worst Champions League contender as clear qualification favourite emerges

Matt Stead
Manchester City, Brentford, Newcastle, Bournemouth, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest, Brighton, Aston Villa and Fulham players
The Champions League race is where it's at

Newcastle have a miserable record in the Champions League contenders mini-table and Aston Villa are one of two clubs who should have the biggest say.

Despite this being an obviously rubbish and predictable Premier League season, there is a fine race for Champions League qualification brewing between two members of the collapsed Big Six and seven sides who were promoted from the Championship within the eight years.

Six points separate Nottingham Forest in third and 10th-placed Aston Villa in the Premier League table; Brentford are a further four points behind the Villans but their fixture list contains all but one of the other challengers.

The remaining matches between the Champions League contenders could be the most important of all – each team has at least four such six-pointers left – and that bodes better for some than others, looking at a mini-table of those results so far.

Every team from third to 10th is also in at least one other competition, adding an element of plate-spinning jeopardy to what is already an intriguing sprint finish.

Brentford will decide everything, basically.

 

The Champions League contenders mini-table

1) Fulham – 22 points/2.2 points per game (P10 W7 D1 L2 F20 A14)
Beat Newcastle (3-1 and 2-1), Nottingham Forest (1-0 and 2-1), Brentford (2-1), Brighton (3-1) and Chelsea (2-1).

Drew with Bournemouth (2-2).

Lost to Manchester City (3-2) and Aston Villa (3-1).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Brighton (a) – March 8

Bournemouth (a) – April 12

Chelsea (h) – April 19

Aston Villa (a) – May 3

Brentford (a) – May 18

Manchester City (h) – May 25

Other competitions
FA Cup fifth round – Manchester United (a) on March 2.

Do they play Southampton again?
Oh yes. April 26 (a).

 

2) Manchester City – 20 points/1.82 points per game (P11 W6 D2 L3 F23 A13)
Beat Chelsea (2-0 and 3-1), Brentford (2-1), Fulham (3-2), Nottingham Forest (3-0) and Newcastle (4-0).

Drew with Newcastle (1-1) and Brentford (2-2).

Lost to Bournemouth (2-1), Brighton (2-1) and Aston Villa (2-1).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Nottingham Forest (a) – March 8

Brighton (h) – March 15

Aston Villa (h) – April 26

Bournemouth (h) – May 18

Fulham (a) – May 25

Other competitions
FA Cup fifth round – Plymouth (h) on March 1.

Do they play Southampton again?
Absolutely. May 10 (a).

 

3) Brighton – 18 points/1.64 points per game (P11 W5 D3 L3 F18 A21)
Beat Bournemouth (2-1 and 2-1), Newcastle (1-0), Manchester City (2-1) and Chelsea (3-0).

Drew with Nottingham Forest (2-2), Brentford (0-0) and Aston Villa (2-2).

Lost to Chelsea (4-2), Fulham (3-1) and Nottingham Forest (7-0).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Fulham (h) – March 8

Manchester City (a) – March 15

Aston Villa (h) – April 1

Brentford (a) – April 19

Newcastle (h) – May 3

Other competitions
FA Cup fifth round – Newcastle (a) on March 2.

Do they play Southampton again?
In a real blow to their hopes, no.

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4) Chelsea – 17 points/1.42 points per game (P12 W5 D2 L5 F18 A19)
Beat Bournemouth (1-0), Brighton (4-2), Newcastle (2-1), Aston Villa (3-0) and Brentford (2-1).

Drew with Nottingham Forest (1-1) and Bournemouth (2-2).

Lost to Manchester City (2-0 and 3-1), Fulham (2-1), Brighton (3-0) and Aston Villa (2-1).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Brentford (a) – April 5

Fulham (a) – April 19

Newcastle (a) – May 10

Nottingham Forest (a) – May 25

Other competitions
Conference League round of 16 – Copenhagen on March 6 (a) and March 13 (h).

Do they play Southampton again?
They do not. Leicester (h) next, though.

 

5) Bournemouth – 14 points/1.17 points per game (P12 W3 D5 L4 F22 A17)
Beat Manchester City (2-1), Newcastle (4-1) and Nottingham Forest (5-0).

Drew with Nottingham Forest (1-1), Newcastle (1-1), Aston Villa (1-1), Fulham (2-2) and Chelsea (2-2).

Lost to Brighton (2-1 and 2-1), Chelsea (1-0) and Brentford (3-2).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Brentford (h) – March 15

Fulham (h) – April 12

Aston Villa (h) – May 10

Manchester City (a) – May 18

Other competitions
FA Cup fifth round – Wolves (h) on March 1.

Do they play Southampton again?
Nope, those six points have already been cashed in.

 

6) Aston Villa – 14 points/1.56 points per game (P9 W4 D2 L3 F14 A15)
Beat Fulham (3-1), Brentford (3-1), Manchester City (2-1) and Chelsea (2-1).

Drew with Bournemouth (1-1) and Brighton (2-2).

Lost to Chelsea (3-0), Nottingham Forest (2-1) and Newcastle (3-0).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Brentford (a) – March 8

Brighton (a) – April 1

Nottingham Forest (h) – April 5

Newcastle (h) – April 19

Manchester City (a) – April 26

Fulham (h) – May 3

Bournemouth (a) – May 10

Other competitions
Champions League round of 16 – Club Brugge on March 4 (a) and March 12 (h).
FA Cup fifth round – Cardiff (h) on February 28.

Do they play Southampton again?
They pop up to St Mary’s on April 12. If they get that far, the Champions League quarter-final first legs are the prior midweek so it could be ultimate test of that curse.

But Unai Emery may well have f***ed it already.

 

7) Nottingham Forest – 12 points/1 point per game (P12 W3 D3 L6 F20 A23)
Beat Aston Villa (2-1), Brentford (2-0) and Brighton (7-0).

Drew with Bournemouth (1-1), Brighton (2-2) and Chelsea (1-1).

Lost to Fulham (1-0 and 2-1), Newcastle (3-1 and 4-3), Manchester City (3-0) and Bournemouth (5-0).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Manchester City (h) – March 8

Aston Villa (a) – April 5

Brentford (h) – April 26

Chelsea (h) – May 25

Other competitions
FA Cup fifth round – Ipswich (h) on March 3.

Do they play Southampton again?
Nope. Ipswich (a) and Leicester (h) to come, mind.

 

8) Newcastle – 11 points/0.92 points per game (P12 W3 D2 L7 F18 A26)
Beat Nottingham Forest (3-1 and 4-3) and Aston Villa (3-0).

Drew with Bournemouth (1-1) and Manchester City (1-1).

Lost to Fulham (3-1 and 2-1), Brighton (1-0), Chelsea (2-1), Brentford (4-2), Bournemouth (4-1) and Manchester City (4-0).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Brentford (h) – April 2

Aston Villa (a) – April 19

Brighton (a) – May 3

Chelsea (h) – May 10

Other competitions
Carabao Cup final – Liverpool on March 16.
FA Cup fifth round – Brighton (h) on March 2.

Do they play Southampton again?
No. Newcastle made hard work of picking up those six points but collect them they eventually did.

 

9) Brentford – 8 points/0.89 points per game (P9 W2 D2 L5 F13 A17)
Beat Bournemouth (3-2) and Newcastle (4-2).

Drew with Brighton (0-0) and Manchester City (2-2).

Lost to Manchester City (2-1), Fulham (2-1), Aston Villa (3-1), Chelsea (2-1) and Nottingham Forest (2-0).

Champions League six-pointers remaining:

Aston Villa (h) – March 8

Bournemouth (a) – March 15

Newcastle (a) – April 2

Chelsea (h) – April 5

Brighton (h) – April 19

Nottingham Forest (a) – April 26

Fulham (h) – May 18

Other competitions
None. All focus is on the Champions League for Thomas Frank and the lads.

Do they play Southampton again?
They do not. Nor Leicester, taking a full 12 points from that sorry pair. The fixture computer has done them in.

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