The last 16 of this year's Champions League did not even start, but with 13 more games left in the Premier League, thoughts are already eligible for next year's tournament.
The race for the top four – or most likely five, but we will come back to that later – is pretty tight, because only eight points Nottingham Forest in third and Aston Villa all the way in the ninth divorce, with 39 points to play for.
Liverpool and Arsenal certainly look like to reach next season's Champions League and already enjoy a 17-point and 10-point buffer in fifth place. Opta gives Liverpool a 100 percent chance of ending in the top four, with Arsenal only a little less likely with a chance of 99.9 percent.
Behind them there are more than half a dozen teams, including Manchester City and Chelsea – but also surprising packages Forest and Bournemouth – with a shot to cross the line.
The photo could change considerably the following week, with six games between teams that compete for a place in next season's competition.
Aston Villa has the ground to make up for the ninth place, but fresh from Liverpool to a draw on Wednesday, a Chelsea side will be confronted that has not only stopped from the title race, but also the top four, live on Sky Sports on Saturday, kicking off at 5.30 pm.
Both Super Sunday matches also contain Champions League-Achtervolgers with which Liverpool the fourth placed man City and the third placed forest host Seventh placed Newcastle in the fourth placed, with both matches also live on Sky Sports.
Forest then organizes Arsenal next Wednesday, while Newcastle travels to Anfield in a crucial few days for the Eddie Howe team after back-to-back League-defeats to Fulham and Man City.
Brighton, who is in 10th place but has a chance as an opportunity in the race to reach the European top club competition.
Will the Premier League have five Champions League spots next season?
It is not certain, but it is very likely that for the first time since 2017/18, England will have at least five places in the Champions League of next season, due to the performance of the Premier League in Europe.
Six of the seven English teams involved in the European competition this season have passed the last 16 of their respective tournaments, whereby only Man City is absent after their play-off-defeat of Champions League against Real Madrid.
This is comfortable to place England at the top of the charts for his European coefficient this season, which is an accumulation of victories and is picked up by the sides of each country and granted further points awarded for how far they get in each continental competition.
The top-ranking countries at the end of the season will receive an extra Champions League place next season, in which Italy and Spain are currently fighting for second place.
But a word of caution. England was comfortable at the top of the UEFA coefficient list for a large part of last season before a series of eliminations from the European competition saw their hope for an extra qualification disappear, which limited the fifth Tottenham the Europa League of this season instead of the Champions League limited .
If the Premier League representatives on the continent are in the wrong end of even more difficult draws, the same could happen this time.
There is another way in which England could end with five – or maybe even six places. That result would take place if one of Tottenham or Manchester United wins the Europa League of this season and at the same time ends outside the qualifying places in the Premier League.
Who will most likely reach the top four or five?
There are still 13 games to go, but OPTA has given both Liverpool and Arsenal an almost certain opportunity to reach the Champions League of next season because of their buffer about the teams among them and the difficulty of their remaining fixtures compared to the other parties In the race.
With that in mind, his husband City Third favorite to qualify for next season's tournament despite sitting behind Forest in the table, although the side of Nuno Espirito Santo has the next best chance of completing the top four.
Bournemouth and Chelsea will both hope in fifth place in the Champions League, with their qualifying prospects that jump with more than 20 percent for a top five finish compared to if they have to reach the top four.
Newcastle is the only other side with a dual -digit percentage chance to reach the competition of next season at this stage, says Opta.
Here is the average position of the next five opponents of each Premier League side, which they take directly into the last grip of the season …
Remaining games between the teams in the mix …
Teams included with a chance of one per cent or more to qualify:
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