Brentford and Everton are on the coattails of the top five and may harbour ambitions of qualifying for next season’s UEFA Champions League.
With only seven games of the Premier League season to go, the Bees and the Toffees sit in sixth and seventh in the table, just three points off fifth-placed Liverpool.
It is all-but guaranteed that fifth will qualify for next season’s Champions League, given England’s status in UEFA’s association coefficient ranking system. But there could be more places up for grabs via the Premier League and that has handed Brentford and Everton a real boost.
Premier League Clubs Could Become Champions League First-Timers
And not only them, but Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Sunderland, Newcastle United and Bournemouth are all not too far behind in the table either, with fifth to 13th separated by seven points.
Six English clubs played in this season’s Champions League, although after a bruising round of 16 only two remain – Arsenal and Liverpool.
But there is an outside chance we could have as many as seven teams in next season’s competition, although it relies on a very specific set of circumstances taking place.
According to UEFA rules: “If a club allocated a European Performance Spot (EPS) also qualifies for the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase or play-offs, its place in the qualifying phase or play-offs is allocated to the club that finishes the same association’s domestic championship in the highest position of all those that qualify for the league path of the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League.
“If a club allocated an EPS also qualifies for the UEFA Europa League, its place in the UEFA Europa League is allocated to the club that finishes the same association’s domestic championship in the highest position of all those that qualify for the UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League.”
Liverpool and Aston Villa Play a Big Part
An EPS spot refers to the fifth place qualification as a result of England’s coefficient ranking with UEFA.
What it essentially means is that if Liverpool win this year’s Champions League and finish fifth or sixth in the Premier League, qualification for next season’s premier European competition will drop down one more place.
Also, if Aston Villa were to win this year’s UEFA Europa League and therefore qualify directly for the Champions League, and they were to finish fifth or sixth, Champions League qualification would drop down another spot, meaning seventh would get into the Champions League.
Villa are currently fourth, five points clear of Liverpool, who currently sit fifth. So it is not beyond the realms of possibility that this happens. Villa are favourites to lift the Europa League, although Liverpool do face reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
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