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 UEFA Champions League after a two-year absence.
Enzo Maresca's men went on to lift the UEFA Conference League trophy three days later, after beating Real Betis 4-1 in the final in Wroclaw. However, this result has not affected the number of English teams qualifying for Europe.
After a season away from it, Newcastle United are back in the Champions League, despite losing 1-0 at home to Everton on the last day of the Premier League season. Aston Villa lost 2-0 at Manchester United so were unable to go above Newcastle into fifth place.
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 30 years. They will enter the tournament in the playoff round, with the first leg to be played on Thursday 21 August, and the second leg seven days later.
UEFA Conference League qualifiers: Nottingham Forest.
The final standings mean that Chelsea’s victory over Real Betis in Wednesday’s Conference League final will not impact on the Premier League’s allocation of European places.
Chelsea's Europa League place for winning the Conference League 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.
