Premier League Permutations

Much has been cleared up in the Premier League permutations, but there are still a lot of possibilities heading into the final week of top-flight action in England.

Liverpool have been certain of Champions League football for quite some time. Arsenal confirmed their own participation in the Champions League with their narrow 1-0 victory over Newcastle United on Sunday, and the knowledge that Crystal Palace will play Europa League football, having won the FA Cup on Saturday, can also now be factored into the permutations as well.

However, there is still a lot of uncertainty to work out in terms of the European competitions.

UEFA Champions League Positions

We have known for a number of weeks that five Champions League spots are up for grabs via league position in the Premier League.

Three spots are remaining in the league behind Liverpool and Arsenal, and we also know that one of Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur will join the top five as a 6th Premier League team in the league stage, as they will compete in the Europa League Final on Thursday night.

Newcastle United are the team in pole position for the next spot. They sit in third on 66 points, and they have a home game against Everton on Sunday. A draw or defeat could be enough for Newcastle to remain in the top five, but a win will make their Champions League place certain.

Manchester City have two matches left, a home match v Bournemouth on Tuesday, and then they are away at Fulham on the final day. They are currently in 6th, but a point in that first fixture will see them move into 3rd and have their qualification in their own hands, but a loss to Bournemouth will mean that City enter the final day outside the top five. The odds are very much with City to finish in the top five, but they still have work to do.

Chelsea are the other team who have their fate totally in their own hands, but they travel to Nottingham Forest, who are also gunning for the top five. A Chelsea win guarantees them a top five finish, a Forest win puts them above Chelsea, but an Aston Villa win at Manchester United would mean that in that case Villa would finish above Forest.

The Opta Analyst prediction table currently expects the following top five, and Champions League qualifiers to be as follows:

1. Liverpool

2. Arsenal

3. Manchester City

4. Newcastle United

5. Chelsea

UEFA Europa League

Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup takes one of the Europa League league spots away, so only 6th place in the Premier League will secure Europa League football.

Chelsea will also qualify for the Europa League if they win the Conference League final against Real Betis, but if they finish inside the top five, they will take up a Champions League position. However, there would be no extra Europa League or Conference League spot, and therefore, 6th place would qualify for the Europa League and 7th for the Conference League.

Opta Analyst predicts that 6th and 7th places will be filled by:

1. Aston Villa

2. Nottm Forest

UEFA Conference League

There are only two permutations that allow for the Conference League spot to go down to 8th place.

• Chelsea finish 6th and win the Conference League, with Newcastle finishing 7th and taking a Europa League place

• Chelsea finishing 7th and winning the Conference League

Brighton took control of the race to finish 8th with their exciting 3-2 victory over Liverpool on Monday night. Only a defeat to Tottenham in combination with a Brentford win at Wolves could deny them 8th.

However, they will still be reliant upon Nottingham Forest beating Chelsea and then Chelsea going on to beat Real Betis in the Conference League final.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur

One of the two worst Premier League teams in the 2024/25 line up for a match to decide which of them joins the top five in the UEFA Champions League league stage.

The possibility still exists of ten Premier League teams qualifying for Europe.

Andy’s Bet Club has the best Football Predictions and betting tools available including Premier League Betting Tips.

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