With six Premier League fixtures remaining, the race for Champions League qualification carries an unusual twist tied to Aston Villa\u2019s progress in the Europa League. Villa\u2019s European campaign has been consistent even as their domestic form has fluctuated. They eliminated Bologna, beating the Serie A side 7\u20131 on aggregate in the Europa League quarterfinals, and now face Nottingham Forest in the semi-finals.<\/p>\n
Bologna\u2019s Riccardo Orsolini offered a stark assessment after the tie: \u201cWhen you face such a strong team, you take your hat off and applaud,\u201d and \u201cThey\u2019ll definitely win the Europa League.\u201d That outcome would have direct consequences for Premier League clubs chasing the top four.<\/p>\n
England has secured an extra Champions League place this season thanks to English sides\u2019 performances in Europe, so normally the top four qualify and a fifth spot exists. Liverpool currently occupy that fifth position, with Chelsea four points behind. Villa sit above Liverpool by three points and are seven points clear of Chelsea.<\/p>\n
The permutations are straightforward. If Villa win the Europa League they will take a Champions League place through that route regardless of their league finish. If Villa also finish fourth, England\u2019s allocation remains unchanged. If Villa finish fifth while also winning the Europa League, the additional European Performance Spot would drop down to sixth. At present that would benefit Chelsea.<\/p>\n
Liverpool know the margins are small. The two clubs meet on May 17 in the penultimate round, a fixture that could prove decisive. Despite the turmoil engulfing Anfield this season, Liverpool boast a superior goal difference. If Arne Slot\u2019s side win their remaining six games, they will finish fourth at the very least. Even matching Villa\u2019s results and claiming victory over the Villans next month would secure their position.<\/p>\n
Villa are unlikely to fall to sixth, but a slide to fifth remains possible in a season defined by fine margins. That uncertainty is why Chelsea and Liverpool may find themselves unusually invested in Villa\u2019s Europa League journey.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Villa’s Europa League run could hand Chelsea or Liverpool a Champions League route via EPS. 2025\/26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12073,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[711,969],"tags":[299,1047],"class_list":["post-12074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-aston-villa","category-premier-league","tag-arne-slot","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12073"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}