As the dust settles on an exciting final day of the Premier League season, the places in the race for Europe have been confirmed.
While Liverpool, as champions, and Arsenal were already confirmed as finishing in the top five ahead of the final day, five teams were vying for the three remaining places.
Manchester City confirmed their hold on third place with a 2-0 win at Fulham.
Chelsea’s 1-0 victory at Nottingham Forest meant that they jumped into fourth place and will return to the Champions League after a two-year absence.
Joining them back in the competition after a season away are Newcastle United, who despite losing 1-0 at home to Everton, were celebrating at St James’ Park because Aston Villa lost 2-0 at Manchester United and were unable to go above them into fifth.
Joining these five clubs in the Champions League will be a sixth Premier League team, Tottenham Hotspur, whose UEFA Europa League final victory over Man Utd has earned them the right to participate in the competition.
UEFA Champions League qualifiers: Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Newcastle, Spurs.
| Position Pos | Club | Played Pl | GD | Points Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 |
Man City
MCI
|
38 | +28 | 71 |
| 4 |
Chelsea
CHE
|
38 | +21 | 69 |
| 5 |
Newcastle
NEW
|
38 | +21 | 66 |
| 6 |
Aston Villa
AVL
|
38 | +7 | 66 |
| 7 |
Nott'm Forest
NFO
|
38 | +12 | 65 |
The consolation for Villa finishing sixth is they will have a place in next season’s UEFA Europa League, a competition that their manager Unai Emery has won four times, three times with Sevilla and once with Villarreal.
Villa will be joined in the Europa League by Crystal Palace, who earned their place by winning the FA Cup final against Man City on 17 May.
UEFA Europa League qualifiers: Aston Villa, Crystal Palace.
By finishing seventh, Forest will be playing in next season’s UEFA Conference League, their first European football for 21 years.
UEFA Conference League qualifiers: Nottingham Forest.
The final standings mean that Chelsea’s performance against Real Betis in Wednesday’s Conference League final will not impact on the Premier League’s allocation of European places.
If Chelsea were to win, the Europa League place due for the winners will not be reallocated to another Premier League club because the Blues are already in the Champions League, albeit they do have a choice of which competition they wish to play in, according to ESPN’s Dale Johnson.
