Will it be five or six teams? How Champions League qualification works
This one gets a little bit confusing, but Aston Villa's Europa League final win over Freiburg make things clearer. Because England has won one of two Elite Performance Spots (EPS) for next season's Champions League, five Premier League clubs will feature in the competition instead of four.
[BBC] This one gets a little bit confusing, but Aston Villa's Europa League final win over Freiburg make things clearer. Because England has won one of two Elite Performance Spots (EPS) for next season's Champions League, five Premier League clubs will feature in the competition instead of four. Like England, Spain have also guaranteed five clubs.
We already know that Arsenal , Manchester City , Manchester United and Villa are four of those. But because of Villa winning the Europa League, there is a scenario where six English clubs qualify for the Champions League next term. For that to happen, Villa would need to finish fifth.
Currently, they are fourth - three points clear of fifth-placed Liverpool. That means Liverpool would need to beat Brentford and hope Villa lose at City for them to overtake Unai Emery's team. Fans of Bournemouth and Brighton will also hope this happens.
If it does, it means one of them would join Liverpool and be a sixth English team in the Champions League. The Cherries only need a point at Nottingham Forest to guarantee a top-six finish. Meanwhile, the Seagulls would need to beat Manchester United and for Bournemouth to lose to finish sixth.