How every Premier League club can still qualify for Europe this season | OneFootball

So mental is the Premier League and the criteria for Champions League and Europa qualification, it is still possible that anyone from first to 16th can be in Europe.

Aston Villa’s progression to the Europa League final keeps alive the hope that there could be six teams in next season’s Champions League.

Overall, depending on how the league table finishes and what happens in the four finals to come this month, it is possible that TEN Premier League teams could be in Europe.

Right now, there are 16 teams still in with varying levels of hope of playing in the Champions League or Europa competitions next season.

Here’s how the situation looks for every club and best they can get into Europe…

1. Arsenal – 76pts

Bound for the Champions League. As holders after their greatest-ever season?

2. Manchester City – 71

A 16th straight season in the Champions League is assured. Pep Guardiola’s future is not.

3. Manchester United – 64

Michael Carrick has United back in the Champions League. Does he get to go with them?

4. Liverpool – 58

Even if the Premier League only gets five Champions League places, four points from their last three matches makes certain of a top-five finish. If Villa win the Europa League and remain in fifth, then three points will be enough for Liverpool.

5. Aston Villa – 58

Half the Premier League has eyes on Villa over the next fortnight…

Four points from their remaining three matches will have the Villans in the Champions League, regardless of how they fare in the Europa League final.

Winning that and climbing above Liverpool – they are currently level on points and face each other next week – would screw the clubs eyeing a sixth Champions League spot, but it may be reasonable to assume Villa will do the minimum necessary around their Europa League final. Which, if they win, will get them into the Champions League even if they lose all their remaining Premier League games.

6. Bournemouth – 52

With a six-point gap to Villa and Liverpool, Bournemouth are banking on Villa winning the Europa League final and staying fifth. Should that happen, the Cherries remaining sixth will have them in the Champions League.

Bournemouth. In the Champions League.

Even if Villa don’t do their bit, sixth place will have the Cherries in the Europa League. They could even afford to drop a place and still be in Europe for the first time ever.

7. Brentford – 51

Brentford’s current seventh-place standing would be good for a Europa Conference League place. If Villa win the Europa League, that doesn’t change. If Villa lose and Man City win the FA Cup, then seventh gets the Bees into the Europa League.

But Brentford still have Champions League ambitions. They are currently a point off sixth place. And there is a scenario that would require Brentford to lose on the final day to reach the Champions League.

They face Liverpool, who the Bees need to finish above Villa. If Villa are Europa League winners and they go to Manchester City on the final day in fourth place – remember, Villa play Liverpool next week – then Brentford (if they are sixth) will need Liverpool to win to leapfrog Villa and make sixth eligible for the Champions League. But defeat could open the door for other teams too.

8. Brighton – 50

Brighton could be in a similar situation to Brentford above, perhaps in need of being beaten by Man Utd on the final day to get into the Champions League via sixth place. But it’s less likely for the Seagulls as United will probably be out of sight for Villa by then.

Improving on their current standing would see Brighton into Europe for sure. But they could still get into the Conference League from eighth if Villa win the Europa League and finish fifth or sixth and Man City win the FA Cup final. It is also possible if Chelsea win the FA Cup and crash the top six.

9. Chelsea – 48

The simple way for Chelsea to get into Europe is to win the FA Cup to gain entry into the Europa League. They could yet end a wretched season with a Champions League place if Villa do what’s necessary for sixth place to provide passage that way, but the Blues are currently four points off the pace, with Liverpool, Tottenham and Sunderland to play. Anyway, this mob qualifying for the Champions League would be a travesty.

10. Everton – 48

Everton, like Chelsea, could yet play Champions League football next season with a sixth-placed finish. Arguably, they have easier fixtures than Chelsea, with distracted Palace, Sunderland, and a Spurs side that could be already relegated or safe on the final day. Still, the gap to sixth looks big, especially in this form, but seventh and eighth is within a win’s reach.

11. Fulham – 48

Same as Everton. And they could do themselves and a few others a favour by beating Bournemouth on Saturday.

12. Sunderland – 47

Same scenario as the teams above them and though it’s a tough-looking three-game run-in for a team that has tailed off, they face both Everton and Chelsea which could prove to be six-pointers in the battle for top eight. Which is one of the saddest sentences ever published on this formerly-good site, but here we are.

13. Newcastle – 45

Newcastle could finish the season in the Champions League or the Championship. Granted, it would take something cataclysmic to go down, and a sequence of events only slightly less unlikely to get top six. More likelihood of seeing a Mackem in Milan next season than a Geordie.

14. Leeds United – 43

Here we go. They still need a win to be absolutely sure of safety, but the prospect of Leeds in the Champions League was what prompted this awful-to-write, worse-to-read feature.

Behold, the sequence of results that would see Leeds in the Champions League…

15. Crystal Palace – 43

All Palace need do is beat Rayo Vallecano in the Europa Conference League final and they are into the Europa League – a year too late in their view.

16. Nottingham Forest – 42

Until Thursday night’s shellacking in the Europa League semi-final, Forest were getting giddy about the Champions League. Now the best they can hope for is a miracle for seventh place, or something similarly miraculous to finish eighth and pray all the permutations fall in to place.

17. Tottenham Hotspur – 37

All Spurs need to get back into Europe is to achieve their best possible finish – 13th – and hope half the teams above them simultaneously go out of business.

18. West Ham – 36

Benidorm.

20. Wolves (R) – 18