Race for Champions League spots hots up

The English Premier League title and relegation may be done and dusted, but the race for Champions League spots is just hotting up with six teams below champions Liverpool fighting to finish in the top five. Here are three key talking points.

Gabriel Magalhaes a big miss for Arsenal

With just three wins in their last 10 league matches, and trailing Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 going into the second leg in their Champions League semi-final, it seems like Arsenal’s season is going off the boil at the worst possible time.

For the 2-1 defeat by Bournemouth, they made just two changes from the starting line-up for the midweek loss to PSG. All of a sudden, from challenging Liverpool for the league title, the Gunners are now warily looking over their shoulders as there remains a realistic chance they could slip out of the top five and miss out on the Champions League final.

Arsenal’s recent dip in form has coincided with the injury absence of their key centre-back Magalhaes, who has been sidelined with a hamstring issue. During his eight-match absence, the team managed only three victories: both legs of their Champions League quarter-final against Real Madrid and a Premier League win over Ipswich.

The Brazilian, one half of their first-choice central defence pairing along with William Saliba, had been immense at both ends of pitch when he has played, contributing five goals and three assists in 42 games and playing a key role in EPL’s best defence.

While Jakub Kiwior has tried his best to fill in, he was powerless to stop Dean Huijsen from heading in a throw-in before Evanilson stole in to score off Marcus Tavernier’s flick-on from a corner.

From a team who have used set-pieces to deadly effect, Arsenal now seem so vulnerable while defending them,