How NINE Premier League teams could qualify for Europe next season

The race for Champions League qualification is heating up in the Premier League, with just five points separating five teams from a fifth-placed finish.

Arsenal’s 1-0 victory over Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League on Tuesday confirmed that the Premier League’s Top 5 teams will secure playing at the highest level of European football next season.

UEFA awards an additional place to the two leagues that produce the best overall performances across its three European competitions.

How NINE teams in the Premier League could qualify for Europe next season

Newcastle United benefited from this last season, gaining qualification to the Champions League after a fifth-placed Premier League finish with 66 points.

The Magpies narrowly pipped Aston Villa on goal difference, and Nottingham Forest by a point but Vitor Pereira’s side can write their own Champions League qualification story this season… and help to ensure that a whopping nine Premier League teams secure European football.

Last season, Tottenham Hotspur ended their 17-year trophy drought with a 1-0 Europa League final victory over Manchester United in Bilbao, courtesy of a scrappy Brennan Johnson first-half finish.

Tottenham finished 17th in the Premier League, much further clear of the drop zone than they are currently, but secured Champions League football with that trophy win.

If Nottingham Forest were to do the same and win the Europa League while finishing in the depths of the table, that would mean six English teams will compete in the Champions League next season.

To gain another European spot, one of Manchester City or Chelsea would have to win the FA Cup while maintaining their place in the Premier League table’s Top 6 positions - winners of football’s oldest Cup competition gain qualification to the Europa League and, in this scenario, that qualification would then pass down to seventh-placed.

Manchester City, currently placed second in the Premier League table, is a near-certain bet for a Top 5 finish, meaning the Conference League spot they gained by winning the Carabao Cup will pass down to eighth-place.

Therefore, the teams positioned first through eighth in the Premier League table would secure varying levels of European football, meaning Forest would have to win the Europa League and finish ninth or lower to ensure the final place.

To make this a reality, Chelsea will face Leeds in the FA Cup semi-final at the end of April, with Manchester City facing Southampton, as both teams edge closer to the trophy.

Before those games, Nottingham Forest must first stay in the Europa League, as Pereira’s men return to European action against Porto on Thursday in the tournament’s quarter-finals.