- Three top-flight clubs clinched important victories in Europe during midweek
- A sixth Champions League spot is secured in the event of a Europa League win
- LISTEN NOW: It’s All Kicking Off! Why the League Cup final is Newcastle’s to lose
The Premier League could be on course to secure no less than seven Champions League spots next season after a series of eye-catching results in Europe.
England looks to have already wrapped up a fifth place in Europe’s elite club competition after three wins for top-flight sides on Thursday, with Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea all winning on aggregate.
Incredibly, it will become six if United or Tottenham win the Europa League.
Just one of the five remaining English sides in Europe needs to win in any of their quarter-final legs to prevent Italy from catching their coefficient score.
Arsenal and Aston Villa advanced to the Champions League last-eight after beating PSV and Club Brugge respectively while United progressed in the Europa League following a 4-1 thumping of Real Sociedad at Old Trafford in the second leg.
Tottenham survived a scare to move on at the expense of AZ Alkmaar.
Seven Premier League clubs could secure a Champions League spot next season
Aston Villa advanced to the Champions League quarter-finals after beating Club Brugge
Manchester United are still alive in the Europa League after seeing off Real Sociedad
Chelsea remain in contention in the Conference League, having seen off Copenhagen 3-1 on aggregate after handsomely finishing top of the group phase.
Under UEFA rules, the winners of the Europa League qualify automatically for the Champions League and this guarantees an extra place for a country if that club does not also gain entry to the prestigious competition via their domestic league.
This appears to be a safe bet for the Premier League with both United and Spurs comfortably adrift of the top five in the top-flight after poor campaigns.
But there also remains the remote possibility that England could earn a seventh spot.
That would require Aston Villa to win the Champions League and finish outside of the top five in the Premier League. UEFA awards two extra ‘European Performance Spots’ to the two countries whose clubs perform best in Europe over the campaign.
Germany and Italy bagged the extra berths for this season but as it stands, England and Spain are comfortably ahead of the competition.
Points are awarded for wins and qualifying for the knockout rounds, with the Champions League given a greater weighting in the rankings.
An average score is then calculated by dividing the total number of points picked up by clubs representing a country in that season’s competitions.
England looks to have already wrapped up a fifth spot in the Europe’s elite club competition
Tottenham survived a scare against AZ Alkmaar to ease the pressure on Ange Postecoglou
Chelsea remain the overwhelming favourites to lift the Conference League trophy
So far, English sides have won 45 and lost 12 of their 68 matches in Europe, culminating in a coefficient score of 24.25 points. This places them ahead of closest challengers Spain (21.678) and third-placed Italy (19.937).
In the remarkable event of the Premier League securing seven Champions League places, there is also an outside chance that 11 top-flight sides are competing in Europe, including two in the Europa League and one in the Conference League.
With triumph in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup granting qualification to the Europa League and Conference League respectively, we would first need to see both domestic cup winners already having qualified for Europe via their league position.
These places would drop to those lower down the table.
Chelsea would then be required to complete the English whitewash of European competitions and lift the Conference League – a more than plausible feat – but they would also have to finish outside a Europa League spot in the Premier League.
Add the European Performance Spots to the mix and providing the stars align, England would have 11 clubs in European competitions next season.
