Supercomputer predicts final PL table-race for UCL places going down to the wire

THE race for the Champions League spots is set to go down the wire as Prem teams jockey for position.

With English sides having performed well in Europe this term, the Premier League has been awarded an extra Champions League place for next season.

This means that the top five will all enter Europe's premier competition in the 2025-26 campaign.

Having already won the title, Liverpool have sewn up their place at Europe's top table for next season.

Second placed Arsenal are then in pole position to join the Reds, sitting six points above sixth with three matches remaining.

Manchester City currently occupy third - with Newcastle fourth and Chelsea fifth.

Following last night's 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace, Nottingham Forest are now on the outside looking in at sixth.

While Aston Villa are seventh, but will still believe that they are in the hunt.

With the race hotting up, boffins and brainiacs over at AceOdds have crunched the numbers to determine how the final Premier League table is likely to look.

They reckon that out-of-form Arsenal will win two of their final three matches to seal second spot, and thus a place in the Champions League next season.

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Mikel Arteta's side will travel to Liverpool this weekend, before hosting Newcastle the following Sunday and finishing with a trip to relegated Southampton.

In third, the supercomputer has Manchester City finishing two points back from Arsenal.

It reckons that Pep Guardiola's men will collect seven points from their last three games; as they travel to Southampton and Fulham either side of a home assignment against Bournemouth.

Newcastle are tipped to finish in fourth place, as the Carabao Cup winners are backed to collect two wins and a defeat from their final three matches.

Eddie Howe's side will host Chelsea and Everton either side of their trip to Arsenal.

Somewhat surprisingly, the supercomputer backs Aston Villa to win all three of their remaining games to vault up from seventh into fifth.

Unai Emery's men travel to Bournemouth this weekend, before hosting Tottenham in a match likely to be moved from its current Sunday slot to next Friday night - with Spurs potentially distracted by the upcoming Europa League final, should they make it.

Villa then finish their campaign with a trip Manchester United, who will likely have played in the Europa League final in Bilbao four days earlier.

The supercomputer reckons that Chelsea will only collect four more points to fall out of the top five.

The Blues have awkward trips to Newcastle and Nottingham Forest to come, either side of a home assignment against Man Utd.

Forest are backed to win two of their remaining three games, against Leicester, West Ham and Chelsea, but still finish behind the Blues on goal difference.

Sixth place will earn a spot in the Europa League.

Winning the FA Cup also carries a Europa League place, meaning that Crystal Palace could qualify by winning the competition.

Should City win the FA Cup, by virtue of them having already qualified for Europe higher up the table, the Europa League spot would pass down to the team that finishes seventh in the league.

Newcastle qualified for the Europa Conference League by winning the EFL Cup.

But if the Toon qualify for the Champions League or Europa League via their league position, that Europa Conference League spot would be passed down to the next-best placed team in the Premier League table.

This means that the team in eighth could earn a Europa Conference League spot.

By winning this season's Europa Conference League, Chelsea would earn themselves a place in next season's Europa League.

But Enzo Maresca's side will hope to have already secured at least a Europa League spot via their Premier League finish.

Finally, the Supercomputer predicts Man Utd and Tottenham to finish  14th and 16th respectively.

If one of those two teams wins the Europa League, however, they will automatically enter the league phase of next season's Champions League, despite their lowly Prem positions.

An English side winning the Europa League, coupled with Crystal Palace winning the FA Cup, would see 10 Premier League sides in Europe next season - with six in the Champions League, three in the Europa League and one in the Europa Conference League.