Top News

There is a realistic possibility that Bournemouth or Brighton could find themselves competing in the Champions League next season.

Alongside Tottenham and West Ham, who are both dealing with relegation concerns, two surprising sides will be keeping a very close watch on other results when the Premier League concludes this Sunday.

The reason is that the team finishing sixth in the table could potentially claim a Champions League spot — but only if a few crucial results go their way.

Here’s a breakdown of what needs to happen on the final day for Bournemouth or Brighton to secure a historic first appearance in Europe’s elite competition.

The first condition for England to have six clubs in next season’s Champions League was that a Premier League team had to win the Europa League.

That requirement has already been fulfilled, as Unai Emery guided Aston Villa to Europa League glory on Wednesday night. This marks another triumph for Emery, who previously won the tournament with Sevilla and Villarreal. (He also managed David Villa during his time at Valencia, but never achieved Europa League success with him — one of football’s near misses.)

The next crucial requirement is that Europa League winners Aston Villa must finish exactly fifth in the Premier League.

This situation arises from UEFA’s technical regulations concerning Champions League qualification spots.

To summarise: if a team qualifies for the Champions League through another route and also finishes in the top four, no extra spot is added for their country. The only exception came in 2005, when Liverpool won the Champions League but ended fifth behind Everton. With no precedent at the time, both teams were entered into the qualification rounds.

For example, if Arsenal defeat PSG to win the Champions League next Saturday, England would not gain any additional Champions League place. Instead, that extra league-phase slot would pass to another nation. The same logic applies to Aston Villa if they finish fourth, since they already have a Champions League berth as Europa League winners.

The key lies in the rule governing the additional Champions League place granted to the two nations with the best UEFA coefficients for the season — this year, those countries are England and Spain.

According to the regulations, the extra spot goes to the highest-ranked team that has not already qualified.

This means that if Aston Villa finish fifth, they would claim their Champions League place through their Europa League victory, rather than their league finish.

As a result, an additional Champions League spot would cascade down to the sixth-placed Premier League team, giving England six representatives in next season’s competition.

Therefore, for the sixth-place team to qualify for the Champions League, the following outcomes must occur on Sunday:

Liverpool must win at home against Brentford by any margin; AND

Aston Villa must lose away to Manchester City by any scoreline.

If both results happen, the team finishing sixth will qualify for next season’s Champions League.

That team would be Bournemouth, provided they avoid defeat away to Nottingham Forest. A draw would be enough for the Cherries. Bournemouth could even move up to fifth if Liverpool lose to Brentford, though that would require a significant goal difference swing.

If Bournemouth lose, then Brighton and Hove Albion could seize sixth place by beating Manchester United at home.

There is no possible situation in which Liverpool could earn a Champions League spot by finishing sixth, because if they were to lose and Bournemouth overtook them, Aston Villa would automatically secure fourth place.