Top-five hopes on the line for Chelsea

PREMIER League champions Liverpool are in line to receive a guard of honour at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, but any pre-match pleasantries will quickly be put to one side, with hosts Chelsea desperate to boost their top-five hopes.

- 

Liverpool wrapped up the title with four games to spare last weekend with a 5-1 hammering of Tottenham Hotspur at Anfield, while Chelsea eked out a 1-0 win over Everton that kept them in the thick of the battle for Champions League qualification.

The Premier League having an extra spot in next season’s Champions League might ordinarily have given the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea a little more leeway, but the reality is five clubs are chasing three places.

With second-placed Arsenal, who have 67 points from 34 games, looking safe for a top-five finish, the scrap for third, fourth and fifth has become the only story in town for the remaining weeks of the top-flight season.