The Race for Champions League football is more competitive this season than ever, with five teams that can now come through the Premier League.
As we approach the end of the campaign, only six points separate five teams that fight for the remaining places among leaders Liverpool and Arsenal with seven more game week to play.
Nottingham Forest, Chelsea, Newcastle, Man City and Aston Villa are the best contenders for qualification, but Fulham, Brighton and possibly Bournemouth are outsiders to keep an eye on.
Here we look at the chance that every team of Champions League -football secures and analyzes what it would mean for those who are making progress …
Nottingham Forest
Sky Sports News Senior Reporter Rob Dorsett:
At this stage last season, Nottingham Forest was on target difference outside the Premier League -degradation zone. Now they have clear water in third place, four points above Newcastle in the fifth. That is an incredible change for a club that has held Champions League ambitions for a long time (but long-term). The Nuno Espirito Santo team is well before expectations.
It inevitably looks that Forest will play European football next season, which in itself would be a huge explanation. But if they could finish the top five and reach the Elite Club competition of European football, that could offer a galvanization power to their transfer plans – and resources – before the summer. And just as important, when tying their growing list of star players.
Matz Sels, Murillo, Elliot Anderson, Morgan Gibbs-White, Anthony Elanga, Callum Hudson-Odoi … they are all followed by some of Europe's richest clubs, and although they all flourish and enjoy their football at the city grounds, the chance to play Champions League-football would play more Red Shirt See in the Eastern Midland.
If Forest ends, I would expect Nuno Espirito Santo to punish a large edition. He has always preferred a small, close -knit team, but he knows that he would like to have two separate starting XIs at his disposal, so that the quality does not dive when clusters of games make the calendar messy.
Champions League football can be worth more than £ 40-50 million for forest. That figure is a drop in the ocean compared to the extraordinary wealth of their shipping marts, Evangelos Marinakis. But it would be extremely important in terms of the purchasing power of the forest in the transfer market.
Marinakis is an estimated £ 2 billion, but the PSR rules mean that he cannot flood as much money as he would like in the team. Qualification of the Champions League would enable him to do exactly that, without breaking the rules.
Chelsea
Sky Sports News Chief Reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
Chelsea simply has to be eligible for the Champions League.
Enzo Maresca knows the score. Earlier this season he seemed to downen the importance of qualifying, but the demanding owners of the club will probably not apologize if Maresca has not achieved the most important goal for the season.
Everything at Chelsea depends on the qualification. The extra income would transform the finances, especially when added to the maximum £ 97 million they could make by playing in the club World Cup this summer.
It would also have a major impact on their strategy on the transfer market, their plans for a new stadium and even the future ownership structure of the club.
Simply put, Chelsea has to play every season in the Champions League, not just next season.
Newcastle
Sky Sports News North East Reporter Keith Downie:
For Newcastle, the qualification for next year's Champions League will be the most important thing for the players they currently have, rather than they desire.
The promise of Champions League football should convince Alexander Isak to stay for at least another season and buy time for the Swede to decide where he wants to be in the long term. I think that even the most fervent fan of Newcastle will understand one of the world's best strikers who want to play in the largest stage in Europe. So this feels pretty critical.
The same could request the same for people like Bruno Guimarães and Anthony Gordon. Both belonged to a group of players who were restless because of the speculation about their own futures last summer with Newcastle forced to sell with hours of the PSR closure of 30 June, or confronted with a point deduction.
Bruno had a deadline of 30 June on his release clause, while Newcastle talked with Liverpool about the transfer of Gordon. Isak could also have disappeared. But the club managed to pick up in £ 60 million with the sale of Yankuba Minth and Elliot Anderson instead.
The will of Bruno, Gordon and Isak must all present their talents in the Champions League. And the club is also aware of this.
It will of course also help to attract players, and a number of signing sessions will be aware of the scenes of the celebration when Newcastle lifted the Carabao Cup and ended for 70 years of pain last month. It has sold the club at a global level.
And Eddie Howe also deserves a large window. He has delivered silverware, even though he is unable to sign a note in the last three windows.
His early signing sessions have all been good and he has improved the existing team. Take a look at Jacob Murphy. Imagine what he could do with a large window while holding his price assets.
Champions League football is the key to the latter and gives him more government power for the first for the first.
Man
Sky Sports News reporter Ben Ransom:
I sat down with Pep Guardiola last week and I asked him exactly this question, because their incredible growth as a club now makes it difficult to introduce you a Champions League without a man city.
They have qualified for the competition for each of the last 14 seasons, and Pep was honest enough to tell me that it is their most important priority between now and the end of the season to do this again.
More important than lifting the FA cup and avoiding a season without a trophy. The reason I asked? The finances.
We all expect that City will undergo something of a rebuilding this summer and any extra money in the pot would be extremely useful, since Kevin De Bruyne is one of the players that the club needs to replace. Those signing sessions at the highest level are not cheap.
However, Pep was also quite clear that if they don't make it, the club will still thrive. There are no worries about PSR, since the income last season amounted to £ 715 million – the most every Premier League club has ever generated.
This summer there is a potential prize pool that is worth nearly £ 100 million on the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, which would also help.
It is perhaps the most surprising result if City is one of the teams to miss, but bizarre enough they might be the club that feels the impact at the least.
Aston Villa
Sky Sports News reporter Danyal Khan:
Champions League qualification is incredibly important for Aston Villa if they want to continue with the momentum that Unai Emery has built up in the past three seasons.
In the past 12 months, Villa has had to rely on the sale of players to generate income and to give them more flexibility on the transfer market with PSR in mind.
That is partly the reason why players such as Douglas Luiz and Moussa Diaby were sold in the summer and then Jhon Duran and Diego Carlos were moved in the winter transfer window. Especially Duran, who got £ 64 million in that deal with Saudi Pro League side Al Nassr.
If they want to seduce Loanese Marco Asensio and Marcus Rashford to permanently sign and other players of a similar caliber to participate, they need Champions League football. Emery can of course do that too.
But for Aston Villa, if they want to continue to compete with the best, as we have seen this season in the Champions League against people like Bayern Munich and now Paris Saint-Germain, qualification is of vital importance for them to build on it.
And, perhaps more importantly, for them to generate sufficient income to invest in the team this summer with all the clubs that are aware of complying with the Premier League rules.
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