The race for Europe is heading for a thrilling finale, with nine teams battling for four remaining places in three European competitions.
Here, we explain the state of play and look at what's at stake in the final days of the Premier League season.
Champions League spots
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa will all play in the UEFA Champions League — Europe's elite club competition — next season because they are guaranteed a top-five finish.
Villa secured their place on Friday by beating Liverpool, who are vulnerable to being overtaken on the final day by AFC Bournemouth, who have a match in hand, at home to Man City on Tuesday.
Bournemouth only need one more point from their final two matches against Man City and Nottingham Forest to secure a top-eight finish and qualify for Europe for the first time ever. Their final Premier League position would then determine which competition they enter — the Champions League, UEFA Europa League or UEFA Conference League.
Remaining fixtures
| MW37 | MW38 | |
|---|---|---|
| Liverpool | AVL 4-2 LIV | BRE (H) |
| Bournemouth | MCI (H) | NFO (A) |
Usually, only the teams who finish from first to fourth in the Premier League table qualify for the Champions League. But this season, the Premier League is set to earn a fifth Champions League spot — as it did last season for the first time.
This is because England (i.e. the Premier League) will again claim one of two European Performance Spots (EPS) available through UEFA’s coefficient table, which measures how clubs from each country perform as a collective across European competitions.
See: Why Premier League will get fifth Champions League spot
Sixth-placed team could also get Champions League spot
As it stands, the sixth-placed team will qualify for the Europa League — Europe's second-tier club competition.
However, there is a very specific scenario where the sixth-placed team would be upgraded to a Champions League spot. This can only happen if Villa beat Freiburg in the Europa League final on Wednesday AND then drop to fifth in the final table next Sunday.
See: How sixth place could get a Champions League spot
Bournemouth are sixth for now and only need two more points from their final two matches to secure that place, after their pursuers slipped up on Sunday.
Brighton & Hove Albion remain two points behind, now with only one match remaining, after suffering a late 1-0 defeat against Leeds United. The Seagulls are targeting a second European campaign, having made their continental debut in 2023/24.
Brentford, seeking their first appearance in Europe, trail Bournemouth by three points after being held to a 2-2 draw by Crystal Palace. Their only remaining match is away to Liverpool on the final day of the season.
Chelsea are six points behind Bournemouth with six points to play for, in their remaining two matches against Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland.
The teams who finish seventh and eighth are also set to qualify for Europe (see below), and all of the clubs down to 13th place are still in contention for one of those spots.
Sunderland were the big winners on Sunday, beating Everton 3-1 away from home to climb into ninth place, just one point outside the European spots.
| MW37 | MW38 | |
|---|---|---|
| Bournemouth | MCI (H) | NFO (A) |
| Brighton | LEE 1-0 BHA | MUN (H) |
| Brentford | BRE 2-2 CRY | LIV (A) |
| Sunderland | EVE 1-3 SUN | CHE (H) |
| Chelsea | TOT (H) | SUN (A) |
| Everton | EVE 1-3 SUN | TOT (A) |
| Fulham | WOL 1-1 FUL | NEW (H) |
| Newcastle | WHU (H) | FUL (A) |
UEFA Europa League
Two Europa League places are awarded to English clubs.
One of them is currently set to go to the Premier League's sixth-placed team (with the caveat that sixth place could yet be upgraded to a Champions League spot, as per the scenario above).
The other is initially given to the FA Cup winners, but Man City have won that competition and don't need the Europa League place (because they have qualified for the Champions League instead), so the Europa League spot will instead go to the team finishing seventh.
See: How Man City's FA Cup win affects European qualification
Crystal Palace, who are 15th in the table, would also qualify for the Europa League as UEFA Conference League winners if they beat Rayo Vallecano in the final on 27 May.
UEFA Conference League
The team who finish eighth will qualify for the UEFA Conference League.
The Conference League place is initially awarded to the EFL Cup winners. But, just like the situation above with the FA Cup, Man City don't need the Conference League spot they earned for winning the EFL Cup, because they have qualified for the Champions League instead.
The Conference League place will therefore go to the highest-ranked team in the Premier League who have not already qualified for UEFA competitions.
With the top five teams qualifying for the Champions League, and the sixth and seventh-placed teams currently due to get a Europa League spot, the eighth-placed team will get the Conference League place.