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There’s nothing more deflating than hearing Gary Lineker utter the words ‘the race for fourth place is hotting up’. He has to say it. It’s his job, and he’s a true pro, but you can tell by his eyes that he is dying a little inside.
For those teams involved, I understand it means a lot, and it’s not entirely without excitement for the rest of us, but the battle for a Champions League slot is not what starry-eyed kids think about as they drift off to sleep.
In fact, in all of sport, the only time you should truly be able to punch the air at a fourth-place finish is for an each-way bet that pays out that far, and even then, it needs to be part of an accumulator.
Elsewhere, coming fourth is nowhere. No one has ever, in the history of the music charts, checked to see who managed to make it to No.4. It’s off the podium. End of.
More often than not, it is the ‘other things’ that we have to focus on to get our Premier League kicks, so praise be to Shaun Goater and Robbie Fowler that we actually have a title race!
Let’s not get too misty eyed. Even between 1983 and 1990, five of the league titles were decided by nine points or more, but epic finishes — for all the obvious reasons — are thinner on the ground these days.
Looking back at the last five seasons, ever since Leicester shook up the world, we have only had one truly pulsating top-flight finale. Last season, at this exact stage, the gap between first and second was 14, and the campaign before it was a whopping 25. In 2017/18, before the St Paddy’s Day hangover had time to dissipate, Manchester City were home and hosed, 16 points clear of United.
The…
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Source : metro
