Newcastle United boost as seven Premier League clubs can qualify for Champions League - on one condition
Newcastle United dropped to fourth in the Premier League table ahead of Sunday’s match against Brighton & Hove Albion.
Manchester City’s 1-0 win over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Friday night took Pep Guardiola’s side up to third in the table and ahead of Newcastle United.
Newcastle are two points behind Man City but will face Brighton on Sunday (2pm kick-off) in what will be their game in hand.
Fifth-placed Chelsea face Premier League champions Liverpool on Sunday (4:30pm kick-off) while Nottingham Forest in sixth are in action against Crystal Palace on Monday evening.
Seventh-placed Aston Villa play Fulham in the early kick-off on Saturday.
After the weekend, teams will only have three games left to play and seal their fate. The top five teams in the Premier League will qualify for next season’s Champions League based on the new UEFA coefficient and ‘European Performance Spot’ (EPS) rules.
Newcastle are two points inside the Champions League places as things stand but could drop out of the top five if they lose to Brighton, Chelsea beat Liverpool and Forest beat Crystal Palace.
They then host Chelsea at St James’ Park next weekend.
A win for Newcastle at Brighton, something they’ve never done in the Premier League, would see them return to third in the Premier League table.
While five teams from the Premier League are already guaranteed to qualify for next season’s Champions League, there is likely to be six and could even be as many as seven should a very specific set of results occur.
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur set to battle for final Champions League place
Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur have had seasons to forget in the Premier League yet could still qualify for the Champions League by winning the Europa League.
Both teams are in a strong position to reach the final following Thursday’s semi-final results. Manchester United beat Athletic Club 3-0 away from home while Spurs won 3-1 at home to Bodo/Glimt.
Barring any shock turnarounds, Man United and Spurs will meet in the Europa League final on May 21. It will effectively be a play-off for Champions League qualification.
And one of the teams who currently sit 14th and 16th in the Premier League table may confirm Champions League qualification before the likes of Newcastle as the Premier League season runs until May 25.
Newcastle were in fact the first English team to guarantee European qualification this season after beating Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final back in March. Winning the Carabao Cup awards a Conference League place though that would be seen as an absolute worst-case scenario for Newcastle given their current position in the table.
Should Manchester City win the FA Cup and finish in the top seven, eighth place in the Premier League will be handed a European spot. This means that England could have nine teams competing in Europe next season.
But there could still be another Champions League spot up for grabs, though it is highly unlikely.
How the Premier League could get yet another Champions League qualification spot this season
The winners of the Champions League are automatically granted a space in the following season’s competition regardless of where the team finishes in their domestic league. More often than not, the Champions League winners also finish inside the Champions League places domestically so it is rarely an issue.
There have been instances of clubs such as Chelsea winning the Champions League in 2011-12 and finishing sixth in the Premier League which previously denied fourth place that season (Tottenham Hotspur) a Champions League spot. But those roles have changed and no longer deny a team a spot.
Arsenal are almost certain to finish second in the Premier League table, they sit five points ahead of Newcastle and seven clear of Chelsea in fifth. But should The Gunners drop to fifth in the table and manage to win the Champions League for the first time, sixth place in the Premier League would also be granted Champions League qualification.
This is based on the EPS rules as Arsenal finishing fifth would have been the Premier League’s EPS spot for the Champions League. But in winning the competition, Arsenal would qualify for the Champions League already meaning the EPS spot is passed down to sixth place.
This only happens if Arsenal finish fifth in the table. A similar situation would take place if Manchester City win the FA Cup and Chelsea finish seventh while also winning the Conference League.
Chelsea would qualify for the Europa League by winning the Conference League and the EPS position that would have granted seventh place a spot in the Europa League would then drop to eighth place with no Conference League spot.
It’s all very complicated, but hopefully the situation will be cleared up one way or another very soon.