SaturdayEverton vs FulhamStoke City vs ArsenalSunderland vs Bolton Swansea City vs Wolves West Brom vs Aston Villa Wigan vs Newcastle Norwich City vs Liverpool SundayChelsea vs QPR Tottenham vs BlackburnLONDONChelsea’s improbable march to the Uefa Champions League final has raised the stakes as the battle for places in next season’s competition resumes in the Premier League this weekend.With leaders Manchester United not facing second-placed Manchester City in their heavyweight title duel until Monday, all eyes are on the race for a top-four spot between Arsenal, Newcastle, Tottenham and Chelsea.Chelsea’s miraculous elimination of Barcelona on Tuesday means that the once fanciful idea of the Londoners winning the competition now has to be taken seriously by their Premier League rivals.Chelsea, who are currently four points adrift of the top four in sixth, would be guaranteed a place in next season’s Champions League if they beat Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena on 19 May.Most worrying for Arsenal, Tottenham and Newcastle is the fact that should Chelsea finish outside the top four, their inclusion in the 2012/13 Champions League will be at the expense of the team who finishes in fourth place.Newcastle manager Alan Pardew, whose side stormed into fourth last weekend after their sixth straight win, admits that he is spooked by the possibility of the Magpies missing out if Chelsea are crowned European champions.“If that happened with us finishing fourth but missing out on the Champions League, it would be a kick in the teeth for us,” Pardew said. “We don’t want Chelsea to win the Champions League because we want that spot. It would be very harsh if we finished fourth and then missed out.”Newcastle will be chasing their seventh win in a row on Saturday when they travel to relegation-threatened Wigan. The Magpies are three points behind third placed Arsenal with a game in hand.
