Update: Man City given double fixture boost in Champions League chase News

Manchester City have six games left to get Champions League football and can take advantage of fixtures in the coming weeks

Manchester City have done it again. No, they won’t win the Premier League and nobody will sing about this achievement but they are once again part of the most entertaining story the competition has to offer.

Liverpool have had the title boxed off for a while and the relegation race didn’t even last that long with the three newcomers hopelessly marooned at the bottom for months. There is no excitement to be had at either end of the table.

It means that with just six matches to go, the action in the division looks to be with the race for the Champions League places. Following the results this weekend, three points separate Nottingham Forest in third and Aston Villa in seventh.

Even more sides will feel they can crash the party, but it looks as though the equation for elite European football will come down to three from Forest, Newcastle, City, Chelsea, and Aston Villa.

Currently sitting fifth, the last qualifying spot, City have to outperform at least two of those four opponents if they want to avoid more disappointment at the end of their campaign.

Pep Guardiola has been clear what the target is – win every game. Doing so may be a little harder than aiming to do so; after winning their opening four games and then three in a row in October, their longest streak of victories since has been two.

There will likely be points dropped then, and there will definitely be points dropped between the five because of four fixtures involving two of them. The only one involving City comes next Tuesday at home to Aston Villa.

For Guardiola, victory here can shorten the equation from six to four games. The dream scenario is six points from Everton and Villa yet even if they stumble at Goodison Park they can know that if they beat Villa they will be above them with just 12 points left to play for.

That again is easier said than done, although Villa’s schedule has been tough with Champions League football and after hosting PSG this week they then play top-five rivals Newcastle at the weekend. They have also been notably stronger at home this season, as City have.

City also benefit from how all the fixtures have fallen, with seventh-placed Villa the most difficult opponents they have left.

After they play Villa, games against 17th-placed Wolves and 20th-placed Southampton could tee them up to avoid taking the drama to the final day of the campaign.

The average position of the opponents City have left is 12th, which is the second easiest of the five teams gunning for Champions League football.

Forest are the only team with better fixtures, and they have the prospect of a last-day showdown with Chelsea.

City are already where they need to be in terms of positions, and they have the fixtures that mean that shouldn’t change. In a season where standards have fallen well below expectations, if Guardiola’s side can rise to meet this last challenge it will leave them feeling a lot better about next year.

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