How seven Premier League teams could qualify for the Champions League after clinching fifth spot – UK Times

The Premier League could boast seven clubs in next season’s Champions League if all the right pieces fall into place – but now we know five will be guaranteed.

The extra place was sealed after Arsenal emerged 1-0 victors at Sporting in their quarter-final first leg, with Kai Havertz snatching a late winner in Lisbon.

It is the second consecutive year that the Premier League has earned an additional spot, with the English top flight at the pinnacle of the European Performance Standings.

Last term saw an unprecedented six English clubs qualify for Europe’s premier competition; five by their league position, while Tottenham earned their place in the league phase after winning the Europa League.

Yet that inflated contingent could grow even more this year, with the Premier League appearing as one of the more prominent beneficiaries to the competition’s expansion to 36 teams that came into effect at the beginning of 2024/25.

As with every season, the top four clubs in the Premier League table are guaranteed a spot in the 2026/27 edition – but like last year, England have earned an additional place.

Newcastle were the team that benefited from this last term, whose final-day loss didn’t mean as much as it might have after the Magpies were leapfrogged by Chelsea into fourth.

That elusive fifth spot is earned by being one of the best-performing two nations in each season’s European club competitions. English teams performed particularly well in the Champions League league phase, which boosted their points tally in Uefa’s standings, and while last-16 exits of Chelsea, Manchester City and Tottenham threatened their ranking, Arsenal’s success has eased any fears of the Premier League being limited to four berths next term.

The Premier League will therefore definitely have a quintet of Champions League teams by the end of the campaign. Spots six and seven, however, require some optimistic hypothetical thinking to come true.

The Premier League will earn an extra spot at Europe’s top table if an English club outside the top five wins this season’s tournament.

The winner of the Champions League would guarantee themselves a spot in the next campaign, as is always the case – but if that club has already qualified for the following edition via league position, that country will not get an extra spot.

That means Liverpool – who need to perform a comeback against Paris Saint-Germain in their quarter-final second leg on Tuesday – would need to win the Champions League but drop out of the top five for the Premier League to gain an additional place, as Arsenal will finish in the top five. Liverpool are currently fifth in the league, four points above Chelsea.

On top of that, the winner of the Europa League is also awarded a place in the Champions League, which assuming all of the above takes shape would bring the Premier League’s tally of qualified teams to the magic seven.

Aston Villa, who finished second in the league phase, are currently favourites to lift the title and will continue their European charge in the second leg of their quarter-final tie with Bologna, which they lead 3-1.

However, Villa are currently fourth in the Premier League so would need Europa League glory to come at the expense of their top-five finish to the deliver a seventh qualification spot to England.

But the burden is not just on the Villans.

Nottingham Forest, who are languishing at the other end of the Premier League table, also find themselves in the last-eight and face Porto in their return leg at the City Ground on Thursday, with their tie finely poised at 1-1.

Should Forest win the Europa League, they would ensure that English teams take another one of the 36 spots in next season’s Champions League.