Liverpool may run away with the Premier League title, but with regard to European football, this must be one of the tightest seasons in recent memory.
There are only nine points between Fulham in 10th and Nottingham Forest in third place with 10 more games to go – and Champions League football is really everyone for the taking.
With teams such as Tottenham and Manchester United are stuck in the middle of the table, while the top four of Aston Villa of last year now seventh in the table, there is a real chance for teams such as Forest, Brighton and Bournemouth to qualify for Europe.
Especially with the Premier League, which probably gets five places in the Champions League, there has never been a better chance for teams for Seal A Place in Europe's Elite.
The qualification of Liverpool for the Champions League is almost guaranteed with the men of Arne Slot who are currently at 70 points, while it would be a shocking fall out of grace if Arsenal were to capitulate and fall from the top five.
The Gunners are currently on 55 points, four for the surprise package Nottingham Forest in third place. You would expect that the most important fight for the top four places will be between the side of Nuno Espirito Santo, Chelsea – who are on 49 points – and Manchester City.
In the 1-0 loss of City on the forest on Saturday, their rivals saw four points away from them, while Chelsea's victory over Leicester de Blues also helped them jump to the fourth.
The men of Guardiola will now look over their shoulders at the courageous teams among them – although they will be comforting, knowing that fifth place should be enough to stay in Europe's top match that offers such a lucrative prize money.
The Spaniard even admitted this week that it would be “a problem” if City would not secure the passage to the Champions League in the midst of their turbulent campaign that has now seen nine defeats in the Premier League.
He said: “It would not be good (if City was not eligible) but I saw what happened to other Premier League teams in the past. Not being in the Champions League would be a problem, but there are teams who did not come back and they are now there.”
City still has a few huge games against their rivals for European places to get into the season, because they are then confronted with Brighton, which are only one point of them in the sixth.
The men of Guardiola also play Aston Villa and Bournemouth on the penultimate day at the end of April, so any slip-ups can be punished.
City has many potential rivals for the fifth, with Fulham at 10th on just five points away from them and realistic in the race to get the last spot of Champions League.
But even if Fulham, Newcastle and Bournemouth cannot overtake the teams above them and claim a top five finish, his Europa League and Conference League spots are still good for grasping.
There will be more places available if Liverpool wins the Carabao Cup on Newcastle, with their Europa League place the following highly ranked team that has not qualified.
If City, Aston Villa, Brighton or Bournemouth would finish in the top five and win the FA Cup, their place would also be passed on to the next available team.
Both options probably seem to happen, which opens the door to Brentford all the way down in 12, with the men of Thomas Frank currently at 38 points and only seven points on Villa in the seventh. Crystal Palace would also be in the mix for a surprise site in Europe, because in the 11th they are a point above Brentford.
This season has been a real turning point for the top layer of the Premier League. Two decades ago, no team could break the stranglehold of the 'top four' – when Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool were the dominant forces.
In recent years, the top four became 'The Big Six' after Tottenham and Manchester City became tribal guests in the Champions League. Now the Big Six no longer really exist. The Premier League has never been open for the neutral and the competition is better for it.
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