Who have qualified for the 2019-20 Champions League? Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea have secured their places in the group stage by virtue of confirmed top-four finishes. Tottenham hold the final top-four spot and will confirm their qualification – also for the group stage – as long as they avoid defeat by Everton. Even if they lose, Arsenal would need to win at Burnley and overturn an eight-goal deficit in goal difference to overhaul them. Can the fourth-placed team end up in the Europa League? In theory, yes, but not this season. It happened to Tottenham in 2012 because Chelsea won the Champions League, guaranteeing a place, and finished outside the top four at a time when England had a maximum of four spots. Now the Premier League gets up to five berths and the fourth-placed team miss out only if English clubs win the Champions League and Europa League but neither finish in the top four. That cant be the case this season. Quick Guide What would it take to force a play-off for the Premier League title? Show With the 38th and final round of matches left to play in the Premier League season, the unthinkable prospect of an extra 39th outing remains on the table. The sensible permutations are simple. A win for Manchester City and the trophy will continue to adorn sky blue ribbons for another year. Any mistake, and Jurgen Klopp’s side can grab a first title in 29 years. Guardiola will be expecting a routine win away at Brighton and Klopp will equally anticipate three points against Wolves at Anfield, but what about that elusive 39th match? The 2018-2019 Premier League handbook states that in the case that the title "cannot be determined because two or more clubs are equal on points, goal difference and goals scored, the clubs concerned shall play off one or more deciding league matches on neutral grounds, the format, timing and venue of which shall be determined by the Board." For everything to be equal on Sunday evening Manchester City will need to lose 4-0 at the Amex coupled with a 4-4 draw at Anfield. Both teams would finish on 95 points, with a goal difference of +65, and 91 goals scored. There is a precedent for this absurdly fantastical turn of events. Sort of. Guardiola hasn’t been immune to a hammering as City boss, overseeing the club’s 4-0 defeat to Everton in January 2017, while a trip back to the winter of 1983 would find an FA Cup occasion that did, in fact, see Brighton demolish City by a scoreline of 4-0. For Liverpool, meanwhile, the mere mention of “4-4” conjures up memories of a Premier League classic in which the Rafa Benitez-led Reds were on the receiving end of Andrei Arshavin’s brief dalliance with genius. Last month Klopp declared the 2018-2019 season as being “absolutely crazy”. Well, Jurgen, we’re about to find out just how crazy. Benji Nurick Was this helpful? Thank you for your feedback. Can five teams go into the Champions League? Yes. If Arsenal finish outside the top four but win the Europa League they will be in the Champions League. If Chelsea win the Europa League only four English clubs will be in the Champions League, other than in the unlikely event that Tottenham end up fifth, and then win the Champions League. How many clubs qualify for the Europa League? That depends. Ordinarily it is three, with the Premier League’s fifth-placed finishers and the FA Cup winners going into the group stage and the Carabao Cup victors starting in the second qualifying round. But that drops to two if an English team win the Europa League but finish outside the top four because the Premier League gets a maximum of seven places in Europe. So can any club say for certain they will be in the Europa League? Only Manchester United. If they finish fifth they go into the group stage. If they finish sixth – which gets a Europa League place because Manchester City won the Carabao Cup but will be in the Champions League – their entry date will depend on who wins the FA Cup. Arsenal are guaranteed a Europa League place if they do not end up in the Champions League. Gonzalo Higuaín seals victory over Watford and a top-four place for Chelsea. Watford can reach the Europa League by winning the FA Cup final against Manchester City on 18 May. Photograph: Matt Dunham/AP What happens if Arsenal finish outside the top four and win the Europa League? They go into the Champions League group stage and Manchester United go into the Europa League group stage. The second Europa League spot will go to Wolves or Watford depending on the outcome of the FA Cup final. What happens if Chelsea win the Europa League? They are in the Champions League anyway, so unless Spurs finish fifth and win the Champions League, there will be three English teams in the Europa League. What if Watford win the FA Cup? Beating City would earn them a spot in next season’s Europa League group stage. Seventh-placed Wolves would miss out on European football because only seven teams can qualify and Watford have finished outside the top seven. A win for Watford would also see the Premier League’s highest-placed side who have not qualified for the Champions League begin their Europa League campaign in the second qualifying round, which starts on 25 July. Manchester United are scheduled to play a friendly against Milan in Cardiff on the same day. And if Manchester City win the FA Cup? Seventh-placed Wolves will go into the Europa League second qualifying round.<doc-sep>With two English teams in the Champions League final, and another two in the Europa League final, we take a look at how European qualification in the Premier League has shaped up for next season. Manchester City's victory over Watford in the FA Cup final means seventh in the Premier League, Wolves, will enter the Europa League in the second qualifying round with ties on July 25 and Aug. 1. Wolves will have to play six matches before the end of August just to get to the group stage, with the Premier League getting under way on the weekend of Aug. 10. Arsenal (after they lost the Europa League final) and Manchester United are now guaranteed to start direct in the UEL group stage in September. - When are the Premier League fixtures published? - When does the new Premier League season start? - When does the transfer window close? Here's how European qualification is now set. EUROPEAN PLACES Champions League: Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Tottenham Europa League group stage: Arsenal, Manchester United Europa League qualifying: Wolves What happens to the UCL place reserved for the titleholder? The winners of the Champions League this season -- Liverpool or Tottenham -- have qualified for next season's competition via the league. This will have no effect on the number of Premier League teams in next season's draw, as the holders only take the place reserved for them if they need it. So, for instance, Liverpool winning the final does not mean fifth in the league also goes into the UCL. What it does mean is the champions of Austria, FC Salzburg, will definitely go directly through rather than having to qualify. There will also be promotions through qualifying for the Czech champions (final qualifying round), PAOK of Greece (third qualifying round), plus Israeli champions Maccabi Tel Aviv and APOEL, the winners of the league in Cyprus (both second qualifying round). And what about the UCL place for UEL winners? As Chelsea won the Europa League, Lyon, the third-placed team in France, go through to the Champions League group stage. Austrian runners-up LASK Linz and second place in Turkey, Istanbul Basaksehir, are elevated to the UCL third qualifying round.<doc-sep>Arsenal and Chelsea have qualified for the Europa League final, completing an historic week with European football’s two major finals now featuring Premier League teams. The London clubs will face one another in Baku on 29 May while Liverpool will take on Tottenham in the Champions League final in Madrid on 1 June. Arsenal beat Valencia 4-2 to win their semi-final tie 7-3 while Chelsea sealed their place in the final by beating Eintracht Frankfurt 4-3 on penalties after the match finished 1-1 after extra time, with the aggregate score 2-2. It will be the first time in the history of European football that one country has monopolised the two finals and means that both trophies will head to England. “Here the level is very high,” said Chelsea’s Italian manager Maurizio Sarri. “If you think that, to get to the final of the League Cup, we had to play against Liverpool, against Tottenham – the finalists of the Champions League – and then we played against, in my opinion, the best team in Europe in the final, Manchester City, you can understand the level here is very high. “At this moment, the Premier League is the best championship in Europe and, as a consequence, in the world. But it’s not easy for an English team to arrive in the last month in a very good condition, physically, because here we play more than in the other countries.” Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored a hat-trick for Arsenal, was asked what reaching the final meant to Arsenal. He said: “It means a lot. I think we have learned from last season [when they were eliminated in the semi-finals]. This year we didn’t make the same mistakes, so now we are through to the final and we are all happy.” The Fiver: sign up and get our daily football email. Both Arsenal and Chelsea will receive only 6,000 tickets for the final in Baku’s Olympic Stadium despite it having a capacity of 68,700. Arsenal released a statement soon after the final whistle insisting they are working with Uefa to gain a larger percentage of seats to add to the “disappointing ticket allocation”. “This disappointing ticket allocation presents us with extreme difficulties in how we allocate tickets to you, our loyal supporters. As many of you will be aware, we are proud to have approximately 45,000 season-ticket holders and over 180,000 official members. “It is inevitable that with an allocation of just 6,000 tickets for the final, there will be thousands of fans who have supported the club for years and been part of our Europa League journey this season, who will be unable to attend this match. This is a disappointing situation.” There have been Champions League finals contested by clubs from the same nation before. Real Madrid beat Atlético Madrid in 2014 and 2016. Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund lost to Bayern Munich at Wembley in 2013 while Manchester United and Chelsea played in the last all-English final in 2008, with United winning on penalties. Milan beat Juventus on penalties in 2003 while Real beat Valencia in 2000. There have been a dozen one-country match-ups in the junior competitions. There had been three all-Spanish finals in the Fairs Cup before it gave way to the Uefa Cup, whose very first final, in 1972, was an all-English affair. Spurs played Wolves over two legs, winning 3-2 on aggregate. There have been a further eight other finals since between sides from the same country, most recently when Atlético beat Athletic Bilbao in 2012. However, there has never been four clubs from the same country featuring in both of European football’s finals and many will argue that the billions flowing into the Premier League are now having a direct effect on those competitions. Arsenal and Chelsea’s victories came after Liverpool and Spurs marched into the Champions League final following dramatic semi-final wins. Klopp’s side overcame a 3-0 first-leg deficit to beat Barcelona 4-0 at Anfield and win the tie 4-3, while Tottenham were 3-0 down on aggregate against Ajax before Lucas Moura’s hat-trick completed an unlikely last-minute comeback in Amsterdam, as they drew the tie 3-3 and went through on away goals.<doc-sep>
Liverpool and Man City have the top two spots wrapped up, but what could happen for the remaining four teams of the Premier League’s 'big six'? Manchester United have missed out on Champions League football for next season and Arsenal have all but done so as well. With just one Premier League game remaining this season, the top-four race is just about done but the Premier League’s involvement in Europe could affect who ends up where next term. 3 The Premier League’s top sides have impressed in Europe this season Tottenham and Liverpool are in the Champions League semi-finals while Arsenal and Chelsea could well meet in the Europa League final. The Premier League is enjoying an impressive resurgence on the European stage – Man United won the Europa League in 2017, a year after Liverpool reached the final, while the Reds were Champions League runners-up last season. There’s plenty that could still affect who will qualify for next season’s competitions and here’s the permutations for what could happen for the Premier League’s top sides. LATEST PREMIER LEAGUE NEWS GLORY Now Capoue and Foyth have shown Kane what can happen if you leave Tottenham NEWS Woeful De Gea stat, Solskjaer 'not at Man United's level', Rashford abused after final LIVE Transfer news: Poch Tottenham talks, £18m Leicester deal, Bayern sign English defender Finished Solskjaer ‘not Man United standard’ with Conte ideal replacement after final loss DRAMA Man United stunned by Villarreal as Solskjaer's search for silverware goes on TRANSFER West Ham target another Czech signing, while Vladimir Coufal begins contract talks gone Conte leaves Inter: Spurs would be 'match made in hell' due to 'trail of carnage' rebuild How Arsenal can learn from Chelsea and Man United to reach Champions League again OUT Maddison the 'most unlucky' to miss out on England team but Foxes ace 'lacks toughness' Probe Sterling ‘reputation’ got England spot as Alexander-Arnold Euro call-up is questioned What happens to Champions League and Europa League winners? The winners of the two European competitions will go straight into next season’s Champions League group stage. Tottenham and Liverpool both have a lot to do if they are to reach the Champions League final having suffered defeats in their first-leg ties against Ajax and Barcelona. But an all-London clash between Arsenal and Chelsea in the Europa League final is still very much on the cards. Getty Images - Getty 3 Arsenal and Chelsea are among the favourites for Europa League glory How many teams can England have in Europe? Countries from across Europe can have a maximum of five clubs in the Champions League. Should Arsenal or Chelsea win the Europa League and thus making the Champions League next season, the Premier League will not gain another European spot. The winners of England’s two domestic cups do earn entrance to the Europa League but at different stages of the competition. City won the Carabao Cup but will not use their place as they will be in the Champions League next season. Their Europa League qualifying spot goes to the highest-placed Premier League team not already qualified for European competition. City could also win the FA Cup when they face Watford. If Watford win, they will earn a place in the Europa League group stages next term. If City win, it will again go to highest-placed Premier League team not already qualified for European competition. 3 Liverpool and Man City have already qualified for the Champions League What if Premier League teams win in Europe but fail to make top four? Liverpool are already assured of a top four spot, along with Manchester City. Chelsea’s win over Watford secured their top-four place while Tottenham have all but beaten Arsenal to a place as well. Spurs would have to lose, the Gunners would have to win and there would have to be an eight goal swing on the final day for the former to miss out. Manchester United’s draw at Huddersfield saw their hopes ended. United’s failure has also meant the potential scenario where the fourth-placed side could still drop into the Europa League is no longer possible. Presuming Arsenal miss out on the top-four but win the Europa League, England will have five teams in the Champions League.