The Premier League could be set to dominate Europe next season with 11 teams potentially qualifying for a continental competition.
Newcastle and Liverpool have already booked their tickets for next season. The Magpies’ Carabao Cup win against the Reds at Wembley has secured them a place in the Europa Conference League playoffs.
Regardless, the current Premier League leaders are guaranteed to be playing in at least the Europa League next term, albeit they are on the verge of sealing a Champions League spot once again.
But that’s just the start of the European interest of English clubs next season, with 11 teams potentially set to take to the pitch on foreign shores. As normal, we’ll start with the Champions League teams.
The top five will be handed an automatic spot in the league stage of the competition, with the Premier League having already secured an extra spot due to their UEFA coefficient. Those teams would need to be Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and Manchester City.
A further Champions League place would then be available to the winners of this season’s edition of the competition, but only if they have not qualified via their league placing. So Aston Villa look the best placed to do that - but only if they finish outside of the top five.
Yet another Champions League place would then be available to the Europa League winners. Manchester United and Tottenham are best placed to do that of the English clubs, with their potential European places dropping down but only if they finish eighth, ninth or 10th.
Elsewhere, Chelsea would get a place in the Europa League should they win the Conference League this term having reached the quarter-finals. Their place would also only drop down should they finish between eighth and 10th.
With all of that put together, that would see the Premier League’s final European place - the Conference League - go to the side that finishes 11th. As it stands, the team in that position is Brentford with nine games remaining.
So in summary, that unlikely scenario would result in the Premier League having SEVEN Champions League places, three in the Europa League and one in the Conference League. But it would immediately not be possible should any of Aston Villa, Spurs, Manchester United or Chelsea get eliminated from their respective European competitions.
In simple terms