AS THE Premier League season creaks to a finish this weekend after a long and tortuous year, the race for Europe is the only thing left to fight for.

With Manchester City deservedly crowned weeks ago, and the three relegation places decided with Sheffield United, West Brom and Fulham all dropping down to the second tier, the fourth Champions League spot and three remaining places are the only issues unresolved. 

While Liverpool and Leicester may share the same number of points (66), the Reds have a goal advantage of  plus four. Jurgen Klopp’s side crucial 3-0 victory over Burnley at Turf Moor this week gave them the edge over the Foxes. With Leicester to face fast-imploding Tottenham on Sunday, anything could happen. Liverpool for their part host Crystal Palace, in a final send-off for the gentleman that is Palace manager Roy Hodgson. 

Football has rightly paid tribute to the man who has spent nearly 50 years in the professional game. My small contribution would be recalling the aftermath of a post-match presser at Palace a while back. A father and son waited patiently on the steps outside the media centre at Selhurst Park, holding an Inter Milan shirt. Media duties completed, Mr Hodgson proceeded to make his way out of the area, noted the pair, immediately switching to Italian, speaking kindly to the dad and lad before signing the shirt. It made their day. It was a simple act of kindness, testament to a good man.

Time to congratulate Ruben Dias. Members of the Football Writers’ Association correctly voted the Man City defender their footballer of the year. On a small personal note, Dias becomes the fourth successive winning FOTW I have voted for, a nice record. I wonder who will shine next season?

Did you watch the FA Cup final last Saturday? Wonderful, wasn’t it? Or perhaps I should clarify: it was wonderful to anyone who wasn’t a Chelsea fan. Apart from the fact that in a tournament that is nearly 150 years old, a brand new name was added to the list of winners, there were so many delightful and poignant sub-plots. Fifth time lucky for Leicester.

Youri Tielemans’s winner was surely one of the best goals in cup-final history, certainly as good as Santi Cazorla’s outstanding effort for Arsenal in their 3-2 victory over Hull City in 2014, and Steven Gerrard’s last-gasp long-range effort for Liverpool against West Ham in 2006 in Cardiff. 

As a neutral, you couldn’t help but praise VAR — for once — after ruling out what appeared to be a late equaliser. The decision followed former Foxes player  — oh, the irony — Ben Chilwell’s ping-pong effort in the box, which came off veteran defender Wes Morgan. 

For Leicester fans to see Chilwell run off in joy in the belief that he had scored against his former club was one thing: to see him kiss and pat the badge was another. So, understandably, there was deep joy and no little schadenfreude from Foxes fans when the goal was chalked off. 

It also meant that Morgan could breathe a sigh of relief. And so it came to pass that the only captain in Leicester’s history to have lifted the Premier League title also did the same for the FA Cup. The man the chairman called this week their greatest ever player raised the venerated silverware aloft alongside pal Kasper Schmeichel, whose outstanding saves from Chilwell and Mason Mount had also contributed to the heartwarming victory. 

And then there was Brendan Rodgers, firmly cementing his reputation with English silverware after a trophy-laden spell in Scotland with Celtic. 

I must admit I was dubious about him for a long time, having watched the infamous 2012 “Being Liverpool” documentary, when Rodgers was in charge at the Merseyside giants, not least when he came across as a football David Brent with the “three names in the envelope” stunt, which left Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, among others, none too impressed. 

It was a scene that stayed with me, clouding my opinion of him. But having seen him close up in various post-match pressers at the King Power and the Emirates over the last couple of years, he has changed my view. Calm, composed, articulate and empathetic, he is very much a progressive manager and an intelligent thinker. 

How heartwarming was it to see him hug Foxes chairman Aiyawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, and how poignant too, after the tragic death of his predecessor, his father Vichai. It also showed the bond an owner can achieve with a club, its players and fans — if they only take the time to understand the club — and if they actually care. 

Vichai and Aiyawatt had — and have — Leicester in their hearts, and the outpouring of love and affection was a joy to watch, even for a neutral. Certain Premier League owners take note. 

For Arsenal supporters, we have the Kroenke Out demonstration at 2pm on Sunday ahead of the Brighton game. It’s vitally important to keep the pressure on the club’s absentee owners as loyal supporters congregate outside the stadium to exercise their democratic right to demonstrate peacefully. If only Gooners had their own equivalent of Aiyawatt instead of the Kroenkes. 

I’ll be there of course. In fact I’ll be there from 11am, by the arches on Hornsey Road, flogging the new issue of the Gooner Fanzine. Our team and yours truly have been busy burning the midnight oil putting together the finishing touches on our biggest and brightest issue yet in our 34-year history. 

Needless to say, the front cover simply says: Kroenke Out, imposed on a brilliant image of demonstrators outside the Emirates by Islington artist Ruth Beck. If you’re planning to go to the demo, why not buy a copy and wave the front cover to let the world know how you feel.

For Arsenal supporters, it’s the only thing left to fight for this season. That is, if you discount an improbable tilt at the European Conference and leapfrogging bitter rivals Spurs in the process — which simply won’t happen. …Or will it?