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Roy Keane is predicting that more than one of the four Premier League teams currently locked in a battle for Champions League qualification will drop points at the weekend.DOWNLOAD THE OFFICIAL EMPIRE OF THE KOP APP FOR ALL THE LATEST & BREAKING UPDATES – STRAIGHT TO YOUR PHONE! ON APPLE & GOOGLE PLAYAs it stands, Liverpool are sixth in the table and on course to miss out on Europe’s primary club competition for 2026/27, although they’re behind Chelsea purely on goal difference, while Manchester United and Aston Villa are both three points ahead in third and fourth respectively.The latter two face each other on Sunday before the Reds host struggling Tottenham Hotspur, although Liam Rosenior’s side have the chance to draw first blood in the top-five face when they welcome Newcastle to Stamford Bridge on Saturday evening.Keane predicting twist in Champions League raceIn collaboration with Jill Scott and Ian Wright, Keane was asked for his predictions for the weekend’s Premier League action on the latest episode of Stick to Football.While the trio have backed Chelsea and Liverpool to win their matches (2-1 and 3-1 respectively), the ex-Man United captain can see the other two teams in the Champions League race cancelling each other out.He said: “I think Villa will get a result [at Old Trafford].
I think they’re gonna get a draw. They should’ve got something there at the end of last season and you’re all writing Villa off.
I’ll go 1-1.”Liverpool must capitalise on any slip-ups by rivalsOther than Chelsea winning, that’d be the perfect combination of results for Liverpool, and it’d leave just one point separating the quartet by Sunday night, thus making it even more difficult to predict which team will miss out on a place in next season’s Champions League.England isn’t guaranteed a fifth berth in the competition just yet, but it’s still on course to happen despite the collective woes of Premier League clubs in Europe this week potentially harming the coefficient.Along with Wayne Rooney, Keane thinks that the Reds will ultimately do enough to finish in the top five, even though they’re the team currently on the outside looking in and have been dreadfully inconsistent all season.Whilst the other three contenders for Champions League places are all likely to drop points in the final quarter of the campaign, Liverpool must only worry about taking care of their own business and capitalising on any slip-ups from positional rivals.That begins when they host Spurs on Sunday, when nothing but victory (and ideally a convincing one against a club in full-blown crisis mode) will be deemed acceptable.
