Manchester (United Kingdom) (AFP) - Liverpool closed to within one win of the Premier League title, while Leicester’s relegation was confirmed on Sunday with Ipswich set to join the Foxes in the Championship next season.

The battle for Champions League places is heating up in the closing weeks of the season as victories for Manchester City, Chelsea and Aston Villa tightened the race even further.

AFP Sports looks at three talking points from this weekend’s action:

Premier League poles apart

Last season was the first time since 1997-98 and only second time in Premier League history that all three promoted sides were relegated.

However, that is now set to happen for a second consecutive season, sparking fears over the growing gulf between the Premier League and the second tier.

Leicester’s 1-0 defeat to Liverpool on Sunday meant they have joined Southampton in being mathematically relegated with five games to play.

Ipswich remain alive only on a technicality as they are 15 points adrift with five games left and have a 20-goal inferior goal difference to West Ham.

“I think you see among the promoted sides that it’s such a mountain to climb to stay in the Premier League,” said Leicester boss Ruud van Nistelrooy, who has won just two of his 20 league matches in charge of the Foxes.

“The gap appears to be too big for promoted sides.”

The bottom three have combined for just eight wins in 91 matches against the other 17 teams in the division.

‘Fuming’ Watkins fuels Villa’s fire

Ollie Watkins took out his anger towards Aston Villa boss Unai Emery by opening the scoring inside the first minute of an impressive 4-1 rout of third-placed Newcastle.

The England striker admitted to “fuming” that he had not started either leg of Villa’s Champions League quarter-final defeat to Paris Saint-Germain.

Villa’s talisman since joining the club in 2020, Watkins has been squeezed out by the wealth of attacking talent that Emery acquired in the January window.

“Champions League, we have put in a lot of hard graft to get to that position,” said Watkins. “I played 20 minutes against PSG in both games. I’m not going to lie, I was fuming that I wasn’t playing and I let him know that.”

Yet, the extra strength in depth at the Spaniard’s disposal since the arrivals of Marcus Rashford, Marco Asensio and Donyell Malen is helping fire Villa’s push to be back in the Champions League next season.

Emery’s men have won their last five league games to sit outside the top five only on goal difference.

Man City’s new homegrown hero

City were meandering towards a third consecutive away game without scoring in their final visit to Goodison Park until Nico O’Reilly popped up with another vital goal to help beat Everton 2-0.

The 20-year-old is a natural midfielder but has forced his way into Guardiola’s starting line-up in recent weeks with a string of impressive performances at left-back.

Manchester-born O’Reilly has netted his first two Premier League goals in City’s last two games along with three goals and two assists in the FA Cup this season.

“We are so grateful because he’s not a left-back,” said Guardiola. “He’s an attacking midfielder but when you play as a left back, if the build-up is not quick, you can arrive there (in the box).”

Mateo Kovacic added a second as City closed in on a 15th consecutive season in the Champions League.

However, City – English champions in the last four seasons – still have little margin for error in their final five games.

Guardiola’s men enjoy just a one point cushion over Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and in-form Villa, who they host on Tuesday in a vital showdown.