Manchester City managed to book their place in the FA Cup final with a memorable 1-0 win over rivals Manchester United at Wembley on Saturday, but they must now quickly switch their focus back on staying in the top four as the battle between the Eastlands club and Spurs for Champions League football next season hots up over the coming weeks (City 1/4, Spurs 12/5 – Top 4 finish).

With just over a month of the Premier League season remaining, we are no closer to knowing who will secure that lucrative fourth-place finish and a spot in Europe’s top club competition for next term, but here we get our crystal ball out to take a look at both club’s run-ins to see if we can work out who stands the best chance.

City remaining fixtures:

Blackburn (a)
West Ham (h)
Everton (a)
Spurs (h)
Stoke (h)
Bolton (a)

Spurs’ remaining fixtures:

Arsenal (h)
West Brom (h)
Chelsea (a)
Blackpool (h)
Man City (a)
Liverpool (a)
Birmingham (h)

A quick scan of the remaining games for both teams throws up some mouth-watering showdowns but it’s fair to say City, with a game less to play, have the slightly easier run-in.

Spurs’ last seven games begin with one of their biggest of the season when local rivals Arsenal visit White Hart Lane. The Gunners remain – just about – in the title race following their 1-1 draw against Liverpool on Sunday but we can see a Spurs win in this on Wednesday to effectively end Arsenal’s hopes of finishing top of the pile.

Following that don’t expect West Brom to pick up anything when they arrive at the Lane on Saturday but the trip to Chelsea next up could be the day when City gain the upper hand in this particular battle. A home win is the prediction here which means only a win over Blackpool on May 7 will do for Harry Redknapp’s men. But with the Seasiders absolutely desperate for points themselves, Ian Holloway’s side can come away from London with a point to leave Spurs firmly in fifth with just three games to go.

A draw in the showdown with City is the not-so adventurous prediction in the big game between the two on May 10 before a trip to Liverpool is next for Spurs. We can also see this ending all square meaning a win on the final day against Birmingham will be too little, too late.

City’s final league games start with a very winnable trip to struggling Blackburn next Monday.

Roberto Mancini’s side were poor at Liverpool last week but expect them to have enough to see off woefully out-of-form Rovers, who are in freefall and failed to muster a shot on target at Everton on Saturday until injury time!

Next up is a home game with West Ham, who are also fighting for their lives at the bottom. However, again a City win looks on the cards here in front of their own fans for the first time since the Cup semi-final triumph.

One of City’s toughest games in the final month is undoubtedly the trip to Everton on May 7, but with the Toffees safe and without a chance of qualifying for Europe, they may have already switched off by then so a vital away win at Goodison Park should be do-able.

The pivotal clash in the fourth-place battle is obviously the midweek game between the pair on Tuesday May 10 and expect there to be little to choose between the sides at Eastlands with a draw the most likely outcome.

Up next is a repeat of the Cup final against Stoke and a second City triumph over the Potters in as many weeks is envisaged here to leave them on the brink of fourth with just a final test at Bolton to come. We can see Mancini’s men picking up a point on the day at the Reebok Stadium to ensure fourth place is theirs and Champions League football secured.

So, by these predictions we calculate City will finish fourth on 70 points while Spurs will have to settle for fifth – five points behind on 65.

Well that’s how we see it panning out anyway.

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