The last day of the Premier League season usually sees a maelstrom of emotions, with battles at both ends of the table. There are typically twists aplenty, loads of goals and some strange results. This season – or is it last season already?! – we had a little of that flavour but things were a little different, with the bottom three decided long ago and the title “race” won weeks ago, with Liverpool metaphorically lapping the opposition.
In truth, for a long time now the only real contest of note in the English top flight concerned which teams would qualify for the Champions League. Thanks to strong European performances from the sides involved in the three UEFA competitions in 2024/25, we knew that there would be an extra Champions League place for Premier League teams next term. That meant that the top five would qualify for the premier competition in 2025/26.
That five became six when both Spurs and Man United made it through to the Europa League final. It was Tottenham, who would go on to finish down in 17th, who would claim the sixth spot. That means that next term, rather staggeringly, almost a third, or more accurately exactly 30% of Premier League teams will be competing in the UEFA Champions League.
Villa Miss Out But Ref Has a Shocker
There were lots of permutations heading into the final day of the campaign about who needed what in order to qualify for the various European competitions. With one match to play City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Villa and Nottingham Forest were battling it out for the three remaining spots in the UCL, with Liverpool and Arsenal already home.
Despite a poor campaign Pep Guardiola’s City were very much in the driving seat, with 68 points, Newcastle were next on 66 but only by virtue of goal difference. Chelsea and Villa also had 66 points, with Forest back in seventh on 65. With Chelsea away at Forest at least one of those two was set to miss out but the rest was up in the air.
Villa travelled to Old Trafford and must have hoped that their hosts would be tired and demoralised after their Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in Bilbao. Unai Emery’s men, who had rarely been in the top five this term, were on a good run, eight wins from their last nine moving them from 10th to sixth. A win against United would be enough for Villa if Newcastle or Chelsea failed to win, or if Man City were defeated. If Newcastle lost to Everton, just a draw would be enough for Emery’s side.
Overall Villa were poor at Old Trafford, with United surprisingly producing a good performance, perhaps motivated by the desire to salvage a little bit of pride. They dominated the early exchanges and when Emi Martinez was rightly dismissed at the end of the first half it seemed there could only be one winner.
The visitors defended well though and thought they had a goal on the break, but the ref wrongly blew for a foul by Morgan Rogers on the keeper. Rogers slotted home but the whistle had gone and, to make matters worse, because the ref had already blown, VAR could not intervene. To really compound things, just moments later United scored through Amad, Christian Eriksen wrapping things up with a late penalty.
Newcastle Slump to Defeat
Villa really let the chance slip through their fingers, as Newcastle were deservedly beaten by Everton at St James’ Park. The Toffees won 1-0 thanks to a fine header from Carlos Alcaraz o a day when both goalkeepers were in fine fettle. When Everton took the lead the Magpies briefly dropped out of the European places and the home fans must have been fearing the worst.
However, in the end, Villa’s loss and Forest’s failure to beat Chelsea meant that 66 points and their strong goal difference was enough to see Newcastle return to the Champions League. Eddie Howe felt that his side let the pressure get to them, whilst for Everton, three wins to end the season saw them finish closer to a CL place than the bottom three. David Moyes has done superbly well on his return to Merseyside and with a new stadium to enjoy next season, there is a lot of positivity at the club.
Go Cold at the Wrong Time
At the start of the 2024/25 campaign, Forest had been among the favourites for relegation, so their eventual finish of seventh, and qualifying for European football next term, has to be seen as a triumph. But even so, it must really hurt that they have missed out on the Champions League after flying so for so long this season.
Hosting Chelsea they knew that they needed to win and hope that either Newcastle or Villa did not. The other clubs did their part but Nuno’s men went down 1-0 to Chelsea, that win seeing the Blues secure fourth spot behind Man City, who won 2-0 at Fulham.
Forest had been in the top five from the 15th game until the 34th, sitting in third for much of that time. However, Chris Wood’s goals dried up and they won just two of their last eight games, losing four of those.
Almost Half of Premier League Clubs to Be in Europe Next Term
In a strange campaign, where the bottom three were poor beyond belief, Man City lost six out of eight Premier League games at one stage, Spurs and Man United lost 40 Premier League games between them, an unfancied Liverpool romped to the title and Newcastle, Palace and Spurs all ended trophy droughts of varying lengths, a massive nine Premier League teams will be in Europe next term.
- Champions League – Liverpool, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea, Newcastle, Tottenham
- Europa League – Aston Villa, Crystal Palace
- Europa Conference League – Nottingham Forest
Just under half (nine out of 20) of the teams who were in the 2024/25 Premier League will be in Europe in 2025/26. Palace beat Man City in the FA Cup final to earn a Europa League spot, despite finishing down in 12th, whilst Spurs easily trumped that by earning a place in the Champions League despite being the fourth-worst team in the English top flight. We hear it is a funny old game.