Separation Wednesday

We still have about a half dozen games to go in the big European leagues but I have a feeling what we saw today (and to be fair what may happen tomorrow) will go a long way toward deciding the fates of some clubs on the brink. Off the top of my head here is where I think there was some making or breaking:

England-
Arsenal spit the bit on the hard at White Hart Lane. They got a goal late to halve Tottenham's lead but this game was an occasion where the Gunners showed they did not have the core of a championship calibre club. Derby, yes. Good opponent, sure. Hostile environment, I guess. But still a team that really wants to lay claim to the title should have at the very, very, very least managed a draw. This leaves them six points back of Chelsea with four matches to play. Not impossible but it would take a miracle. To give the situation some perspective I never really thought they were a contender and am impressed they hung around this long. Arsenal are absolutely the "any given day against any given team (except Barcelona, wink)" but from the outset I thought they lacked the laser focus and concentration necessary to milk maximum points from the 38 league games. This might have proved it.

Everton and Aston Villa each took a point from a 2-2 draw that made their fading chances grow a bit darker. Everton will probably not be playing any sort of European football next season and where a win today could have given Villa some hope of a late assault on the final CL spot, it is all but gone.


Spain-
Barcelona have been extremely careful about saying the right thing and given their track record during Pep's tenure it would be a surprise if they started celebrating with 7 games to go. An impressive 3-0 win over Deportivo with some big names missing puts them one step closer. Assuming Real Madrid beat Almeria tomorrow there will be 18 points still in play and Barsa's magic number will be 15. Or it could be as low as 12. Looking at the fixtures left for both clubs, it seems a repeat is very likely.

On the opposite end of the match was the other kind of separation. Not even a month ago it looked like Deportivo had a realistic, if contested, shot at being in the Champions League next year. Now they look unlikely to even appear in the consolation tournament. 43 points is not going to cut it. A full 3 out of 8th spot.

Depor doesn't look so bad when you compare them to Atletico who lost to last place Xerez 2-1 and effectively forfeited qualification for Europe through the league. They have faced some challenges this season for sure but a team with the talent of Atletico and the pedigree of having been in the previous two CL's should be able to take care of business when they host Xerez. Very disappointing.

In all likelihood Xerez are going back down at the end of the season but you have to give them credit for mounting a spirited and gritty bid to stay up. They were looking like a candidate for worst Primera team of all time not too long ago and now they are only six points from safety. They probably won't make it but they can be proud of the effort they put in. It would have been easy to throw your hands up and quit but they didn't. And Malaga could put in a couple of duds, stranger things have happened.