The top four dream is over but the battle for European football has almost been won, one more win should secure seventh and with it a place in the inaugural Europa Conference League.
Nevertheless the target should be sixth and a place in the Europa League; however a place in Europe’s secondary competition is no longer in our own hands.
Tottenham should destroy Aston Villa on Wednesday; however their game against Leicester on Sunday is a far tougher proposition with the Foxes in all likelihood needing to win to secure a top four finish.
Six points from our last two games might be enough for sixth but if this race for European football has taught us anything; it’s that you can’t rely on other teams to do you favours.
We’ve run out of steam these last few games; we look a tired side that simply doesn’t have the squad depth to sustain our previous form till the end of the season.
We cannot afford to make wholesale changes without severely weakening the team and the two sides immediately above and below us in Spurs and Everton do have the depth required to go the distance; so to be competing with them after 36 games is a credit to David Moyes, his coaching staff and the players.
We’ve won one of our last five league games but we must find form quickly because failure to qualify for Europe after the season we’ve had would be a disaster.
With hindsight our failure to strengthen key positions in January cost us our Champions League dream; we needed to replace Sebastien Haller, we needed cover for Declan Rice and Tomas Soucek; nonetheless it’s been a campaign of remarkable improvement and progression.
We simply must beat West Brom on Wednesday, we need to take sixth place down to the last game of the season, and whilst we’d stand a good chance of winning the Conference League it’s obviously not got the history and prestige of its more glamorous sibling.
Whilst the last couple of weeks have been disappointing and frustrating we are just one win away from securing European football and possibly two away from a top six finish.
Who would’ve thought such a thing was possible when we were all kicking off about the sale of Grady Diangana at the start of the season?
It’s been a hell of a ride; now let’s end it with six points.
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