League play-off shelved

London - English Premier League bosses have shelved plans to introduce a play-off to decide which club takes England's fourth and final Champions League slot.

At an EPL board meeting on Thursday, the chairperson voted against any further study of the proposal, which would have seen the teams finishing the season between fourth and seventh place in the table playing a mini-knockout tournament to decide which of them went into the Champions League qualifiers.

Manchester United, Chelsea, Liverpool and Arsenal, who have dominated the Champions League spots in recent seasons, were adamantly opposed and there were also reservatons about adding fixtures to an already crowded schedule.

The current 'big four' have filled the top four positions in five of the past six seasons.

Only Everton, in 2005, have broken their stranglehold but there seems a good chance that Tottenham, Manchester City or Aston Villa could squeeze out Liverpool this season.