EPL Table Week 29: Teams with Most to Gain and Lose Ahead of Weekend Fixtures

As the Premier League enters crunch point, and with Manchester City and Sunderland sitting with two games in hand over their respective rivals, it's all to play for in England's top flight.

City's Capital One Cup adventure has now freed up the league's sixth-place spot for Europa League qualification, meaning that Manchester United must find three points to keep pressure on Tottenham Hotspur and Everton.

Meanwhile, at the foot of the table, Fulham's home defeat by Chelsea has left the Cottagers four points adrift of safety. Fellow strugglers Sunderland have the potential to add six points with their games in hand, so Crystal Palace and West Brom must make their respective fixtures count as they scrap for Premier League survival this weekend.

Arsenal's match at home to Swansea, Aston Villa's trip to the Etihad Stadium and the clash between Newcastle and Everton have all been placed on hold this weekend, as FA Cup action throws the sides' league responsibilities aside.

Sunderland's trip to Liverpool and West Ham's game against Hull City have also been postponed due to the cup quarter-finals, meaning just 10 sides will feature in Week 29.

Position	Team	Played	Won	Lost	Drawn	GD	Points
1	Chelsea	28	19	6	3	30	63
2	Liverpool	28	18	5	5	38	59
3	Arsenal	28	18	5	5	24	59
4	Man City	26	18	3	5	42	57
5	Tottenham	28	16	5	7	4	53
6	Everton	27	13	9	5	11	48
7	Man United	27	13	6	8	12	45
8	Newcastle	28	13	4	11	-2	43
9	Southampton	28	10	9	9	3	39
10	West Ham	28	8	7	13	-4	31
11	Aston Villa	28	8	7	13	-7	31
12	Hull City	28	8	6	14	-5	30
13	Stoke City	28	7	9	12	-14	30
14	Swansea	28	7	8	13	-4	29
15	Norwich	28	7	7	14	-22	28
16	Crystal Palace	27	8	3	16	-18	27
17	West Brom	27	4	13	10	-8	25
18	Sunderland	26	6	6	14	-16	24
19	Cardiff City	28	5	7	16	-30	22
20	Fulham	28	6	3	19	-34	21

European Ambitions

The extra European place will re-invigorate many sides who had thought mid-table mediocrity was on the cards this season.

Southampton, sitting in ninth, will now look to the final qualification spot as a chance to crown their second season back in the Premier League. Saints take on Crystal Palace at Selhurst Park, with the Eagles looking to secure their own second successive Premier League season.

Currently nine points separate Saints from sixth spot, but with Everton not in action, that gap can be closed.

Sang Tan/Associated Press

Tottenham Hotspur have it all to play for as they take on top-of-the-table Chelsea. Sitting just six points behind Liverpool and Arsenal, a win for Spurs would keep the club in the hunt for a return to Champions League football.

North London rivals Arsenal have a horror fixture list coming up, with matches against Spurs, Chelsea and Man City and a tricky trip to Goodison Park to come.

Victory for Spurs at Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea remain unbeaten this season, would act as a springboard for hope and ambition that the side could qualify for Europe's top tournament.

Although defeat would still leave Spurs in a Europa League qualification place, it would open up a chance for Everton to chase down their own European ambitions and allow Roberto Martinez's side to overtake Tim Sherwood's outfit, with games in hand at St. James Park and against Crystal Palace.

Three points for Chelsea, meanwhile, would take them one step closer to the title.

In an interview with Sky Sports, Jose Mourinho stated his belief that the title was City's to lose:

"

I prefer to have the destiny in my hands, and only City have destiny in their hands.

If I win every game until the end of the season, all 10 - which we won't - maybe we are not champions. If they win all 12 games they have, they are champions. They have their destiny in their hands.

"

Tough at the Bottom

West Brom take on Manchester United at the Hawthorns in this weekend's early kick-off, and David Moyes knows a win in the Midlands would see his side leapfrog Everton on goal difference and back into European qualification despite their horror season.

Jon Super/Associated Press

Pepe Mel will draw comfort from West Brom's 2-1 win in Manchester earlier this season—albeit not under his stewardship—and hope that confidence from the Old Trafford win can translate onto home turf.

A win would see Mel's men move four points clear of 18th-placed Sunderland and back in a competitive position for survival ahead of their bottom-six rivals.

On the back of Norwich's 4-1 defeat at Aston Villa, Chris Hughton will be eager for a response from his side as they look to climb to 12th with a win over Stoke.

However, the Canaries' boss will know too well just how his side failed to make their early pressure count, despite taking the lead through Wes Hoolahan. Four goals for Villa left Norwich's survival hopes severely dented, but a home win against Mark Hughes' outfit would ease Hughton's woes.

FourFourTwo writer James Maw noted the number of matches that the relegation fodder have against the top seven, tweeting:

Possibly the biggest game of Matchday 29, though, is Cardiff's bottom-of-the-league grudge match with Fulham.

The Bluebirds fell to a 1-0 defeat against Tottenham last time out and sit just three points away from safety but will note that four of the club's five wins this season have come at the Cardiff City Stadium.

Fulham, knowing that defeat would all but signal their relegation from England's top flight for the first time in 13 years, will hope that fortune favours the Londoners in Wales, having won just three matches on the road this term.

Both sides also hold big goal-difference deficits of 30 and 34 goals, respectively, and will be hoping that a win can act as the springboard to success and build momentum with just 10 fixtures left to play in this year's Premier League.