Everton-West Ham United Preview
The prospect of Europa League qualification has spiced up what would otherwise have been an innocuous mid-table clash between West Ham United and Everton at Upton Park on Saturday.
Whether either club actually want to qualify is another matter.
Roberto Martinez's Everton (11-11-14) and Sam Allardyce's West Ham (12-11-13) currently lie in second and third behind Liverpool in the fair play league, and - with the Premier League guaranteed a Europa League fair play berth and Liverpool likely to qualify through league position - Saturday's game has become essentially a shootout for the European place.
However, fair play qualifiers will begin their European season at the start of July, adding a month and a half to the next campaign and effectively removing the summer break.
Despite the obvious negatives of the situation, Everton's Phil Jagielka is still looking for a win on Saturday.
"We always want to finish as high as possible in the league and we want to finish in Europe," the centre-back said. "Europe has been good for us and bad for us this season. It's been a double-edged sword this season - we've played some really good football but it has affected us in the league. With some of the journeys we have had and the fixture list afterwards, it seems like we have had an away European game followed by another away Premier League game. But if we are in the competition - and it is a competition we can do well in - we will be happy to play in it.
"I'm sure the manager will have some big decisions to make as to who would be involved in the first few games because basically it is before pre-season. But that is something for the manager to decide and the squad that he will have at his disposal."
West Ham have had a terrible second half of the season. Allardyce's side have won just two of their last 14 games, but their strong showing before Christmas means the Hammers are still 10th with two games left.
Defeat on Saturday would see Everton pull level with the Hammers, but 'Big Sam' is targeting two wins from the last two games to get the club as high as possible in the table.
"We want to get over the 50-point mark," the West Ham boss said. "We're all hugely disappointed that we haven't managed it yet and we should have done it by now. We could easily be in the mid-50s, but due to a few lapses in concentration we're not quite there. Hopefully on Saturday the boys will go out and put the chances that we will create away.
"We want to win our last home game and try and to enjoy the game. We've been able to enjoy the majority of the season. We haven't brushed with relegation this season at all, not for a minute. We've scored more goals and got more points."
The Hammers will be without James Tomkins and Andy Carroll, while Guy Demel and Winston Reid are both doubts.
Everton are missing Leighton Baines, Bran Oviedo, Steven Pienaar, Darron Gibson and Tony Hibbert.
West Ham are winless in 13 straight league matches (0-4-9) against Everton and lost 2-1 when these teams met at Goodison Park in November. However, the Hammers did get some revenge in the third round of the FA Cup, winning the replay on penalties after both games ended 1-1.