The Champions League has added an extra pair of qualifying places for the two competitions of which the teams perform best in the entire season and English clubs have pulled their weight
The 3-0 victory of Arsenal over Real Madrid on Tuesday evening means that the Premier League is guaranteed five representatives in the Champions League of next season. And there can even be more than that, depending on what happens between now and the end of the season.
With five teams that are still active in European competition, it would have taken an almighty collapse for the fifth place not to be confirmed. The Champions League gives two European performance places, based on the countries whose teams perform best in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League in the previous campaign.
England is in the top two places for a large part of the season and will now be guaranteed to end there. Spain remains the favorites to claim the second extra place, even though Madrid loses at the Emirates Stadium.
In addition to the five Champions League places for the top five in the competition, there is still a chance that seven English teams will reach the competition of next season. That would only happen if the winners of the Champions League and Europa League end out of the top five in the Premier League.
Aston Villa, opposite Paris Saint-Germain in their first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday, are seventh in the Premier League at the time of writing. Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, both in Europa League action on Thursday, are both in the lower half of the competition table.
After a aimless first half in North London, a 3-0 victory for Arsenal seemed far from probably. A few beautiful declan rice free-kicks, however, brought them 2-0 halfway through the second half before improvised striker Mikel Merino shot a third home.
Since in 2009, Arsenal has no longer reached the semi -final of the Champions League when they lost in the last four of Mancnester United. Their only performance in the final of the competition came in 2006, when they defeated Real Madrid along the way.
The race for that fifth Champions League qualifying qualification is a narrow one. Only two points separate Chelsea in Frekh and Villa in the seventh. Carabao Cup winners Newcastle United are in the middle of that group, but with a game in hand.
Former Newcastle striker Alan Shearer was on a co-commentary obligation on Amazon Prime for the Gunners match on Tuesday, when he heard that fifth place was locked up, he suggested the night “just got better”, indicating that he referred to the hope of his former club to move forward.
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