By Gabriel Mills
With a potential six Champions League places and further Europa League and Europa Conference League places up for grabs – who are involved in the race?
Premier League fans are being treated to a thrilling finale to the 2025/26 season on all fronts.
Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham are locked in a tight battle for survival with just a point separating them.
While the title race between Arsenal and Manchester City is a constantly swinging pendulum which looks likely to be decided on the final day.
However, the race for European spots involves teams stretching from fourth placed Liverpool down to the highly unlikely but mathematically possible 15th and 16th placed Crystal Palace and Nottingham Forest.
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How many places are up for grabs?
Exactly how it works with European qualification places is complicated – even more so since UEFA introduced a European Performance Spot for the best performing countries in Europe (EPS).
This takes the form of an extra Champions League place to the two highest ranked countries.
In line with UEFA’s coefficient ranking and due to the performance of English teams in Europe, the Premier League will receive a fifth Champions League place this season.
There is a possibility of a sixth that will be decided when Aston Villa face Nottingham Forest in the Europa League semi-final second leg on Thursday.
If Aston Villa win the Europa League and finish outside the top four, the Champions League place given to the Premier League through the EPS will be passed down to sixth position.
The winners of the FA Cup are awarded a place in the Europa League unless they finish in a league position that awards European football.
If Manchester City, who will finish in a Champions League place, beat Chelsea in the final then the spot will be awarded to seventh place in the league.
If Chelsea win the final and finish outside the European places, they will play Europa League football next season.
Thankfully that’s out of the way now so it’s time to crack on and look at which clubs are involved in the race.
Champions League places
With Arsenal, Man City and Man United guaranteed to be playing in the highest tier of European competition next season, fourth and fifth are likely to be the clubs who occupy them now.
Liverpool currently sit in fourth on 58 points, level with Aston Villa in fifth who have an inferior goal difference.
The drop to sixth sees Bournemouth on 52 points, needing something special to overtake the two above them.
Introducing the possibility of sixth position giving a Champions League space spices things up dramatically however.
As it stands, Andoni Iraola’s side sit sixth on 52 points with just four points separating them from 11th placed Fulham.
Battle for sixth-eighth
Bournemouth
The Cherries occupy sixth before we enter into the final three matches following a superb season.
An away match against Fulham, home to Man City and a final match away at Nottingham Forest is not ideal however.
Fulham are a fellow Europe-chasing side with a strong home record, Man City are desperate to keep pressure on Arsenal while Forest are the most in-form side in the Premier League right now.
Andoni Iraola will hope Forest’s survival is confirmed before the final day which may give his side the edge with something to play for.
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Brentford
With Thiago’s outstanding 22 Premier League goals and Brentford’s expectation-defying season under Keith Andrews, the Bees are firmly in the European race.
Sitting on 51 points, one behind Bournemouth, Brentford also play Man City while Crystal Palace and Liverpool make up the other two remaining fixtures.
In their previous three matches, Palace have lost twice and drawn once having conceded six and scored once in that time.
This makes it a fixture that three points are expected more than hoped for.
Man City looked defensively liable against Everton last time out so Brentford will aim to cause similar issues to Guardiola’s side when the two face off on Saturday.
Brighton
The next two for the Seagulls, who sit on 50 points, are against sides in the bottom six.
Wolves at home on Saturday should be a routine job for Fabian Hurzeler’s team – the black country side are already relegated and seem to be going down with a whimper.
Leeds away could prove tricky when you factor in a strong home record for the Whites this season but they could be mathematically safe from relegation at that stage with little to play for.
Brighton missed a chance to take sixth spot when they were beaten by Newcastle last time out but had won six of the previous eight leading up to that match.
Chelsea
On 48 points and suffering the worst run of any other Premier League side in the last six matches, Chelsea are in a rotten state.
After a 4-1 win against Aston Villa in March, Chelsea sat fifth and in the thick of the race for Champions League qualification.
They now sit ninth and just five points ahead of Leeds and Crystal Palace following an extraordinarily terrible run of form.
With interim manager Calum McFarlane in charge, Chelsea end the season with games against Liverpool, a rejuvenated Tottenham side and Sunderland.
Whether they can turn themselves around, restore confidence and finish in a European spot will remain to be seen.
Everton
With 48 points, the same as Chelsea, Everton are well and truly part of the race but a run of four without a win means momentum is not with them.
A remarkable 13-minute spell against Man City on Monday night saw Everton resurrect themselves from 1-0 down to 3-1 up.
A last-gasp Jeremy Doku strike snatched two points away from David Moyes’ side but the performance may give some needed confidence to the team.
A favourable final three for Everton consists of fixtures against Palace, Sunderland and Spurs so the Toffee’s should not be counted out just yet.
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Fulham
Making up the third and final team on 48 points, Fulham can also make a late push to finish within the European spots.
Marco Silva’s side have struggled for goals in recent weeks however, finding the net in just two of their last seven matches.
The previously mentioned matchup between Fulham and Bournemouth this weekend is crucial for both sides.
Fulham then have a favourable away match against Wolves before a final match at home to Newcastle.
The likes of Rodrigo Muniz, Alex Iwobi and Kevin have all been, or currently are, sidelined which might explain the lack of goals.
Raul Jimenez and Harry Wilson will need to find clinical form if Fulham are to climb into the top eight.
Predicting the lottery numbers feels an easier task than the teams who qualify for Europe this season which can only be a good advert for the Premier League.
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Geoffrey H. Latayan