Brighton, 7th place Tottenham and points difference ‘1’…Newcastle, ‘1 win’ until UCL confirmed
Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp punished for ‘criticizing the referee’
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Correspondent Euijin Lee = Tottenham, where Son Heung-min plays, and Brighton & Hove Albion (above England), which are fighting for tickets to the European Football Federation (UEFA) Europa League (UEL) next season, have slowed down.
Brighton lost 1-4 to Newcastle United in the 25th round of the 2022-2023 English Professional Football Premier League (EPL) held at St. James Park in Newcastle, England on the 19th (Korean time).
Brighton (17 wins, 7 draws, 11 losses, 58 points), which failed to secure points, remained in 6th place.
Tottenham, who wants to advance to the European club competition next season, took a breather.
Tottenham, who are in 7th place with 57 points from 17 wins, 6 draws and 13 losses, need to regain 6th place to advance to the UEL finals next season.
Direct tickets to the UEL final group stage are given to the English Football Association (FA) Cup winners and 5th place teams.
This season, the winner of the FA Cup will be decided between league leaders Manchester City and 4th placed Manchester United, who reached the final, so 6th place is UEL’s bottom line.
With one more regular league game left and one more point, Brighton still has the advantage.
Brighton defeated Arsenal (81 points), a team that reached 80 points along with Manchester City (85 points), 3-0 in the 36th round held on the 14th. I was building expectations.
However, with Tottenham hopeful as Brighton suffered a crushing defeat in the previous great victory, Newcastle (19 wins, 12 draws, 5 losses, 69 points), in 21 years, moved closer to the final round of the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
4th place Manchester United (20 wins, 6 draws, 9 losses, 66 points) and 5th place Liverpool (19 wins, 8 draws, 9 losses, 65 points), and Newcastle, who widened their points gap, can only add one win after the 2002-2003 season (3rd place). Confirm the UCL row for the first time.
In this case, even if Liverpool wins all of the remaining two games, it cannot exceed Newcastle’s points (72).
Newcastle was relegated in the 2008-2009 season and promoted the following season, but suffered recent ups and downs, such as falling to the second division again in the 2015-2016 season.
However, after a consortium led by the Saudi Arabian Sovereign Fund (PIF) acquired it for £305 million (approximately KRW 460 billion) in October 2021, it is raising its performance with the power of ‘oil money’.
Liverpool, which is trying to recapture fourth place at the last minute, also faced bad news that day.
This is because coach Jurgen Klopp, who poured out critical remarks targeting the referee, was punished by not being able to command from the bench for up to two games.
Coach Klopp aimed at referee Paul Tierney, who served as the referee immediately after the 34th round home match against Tottenham (3-2 win) earlier this month, “My team and Mr. Tierney have a history. I don’t know what this person has to do with our team.” he criticized.
Coach Klopp, who expressed his dissatisfaction with the referee throughout the game, ran to the referee and roared with joy when Diogo Jota scored the winning goal just before the end.
When this ceremony was interpreted as provocative behavior towards the referee and received a yellow card, manager Klopp responded through a media interview after the game.
Accordingly, coach Klopp cannot command the team from the ground in the 37th round home game against Aston Villa scheduled for the 20th.
The FA said it would suspend the ban for one additional game until the end of the 2023-2024 season on the condition that Klopp does not violate the rules further.
If Liverpool fails to enter the 4th place as it is, it will fail to advance to the UCL for the first time in 7 years since the 2015-2016 season, which finished in 8th place.
The difference between Manchester United in 4th place and Liverpool in 5th place is 1 point.