Four Premier League clubs’ hopes of earning a spot in European competition next season have been dashed as a result of Crystal Palace’s FA Cup final victory on Saturday. Oliver Glasner’s side secured a historic victory over Manchester City to claim their first ever major trophy and, as a result, qualify for the Europa League.
Glasner has experience in the secondary continental cup, having won it with Frankfurt back in 2022. While he may be eyeing up similar heroics, others will now be forced to regroup and go again after the Eagles’ win officially ended their hopes of breaking into Europe once and for all.
Four Premier League Clubs That Can No Longer Qualify For Europe
Palace’s win has had huge ramifications
While Palace’s win sees them earn the right to fight for the Europa League, it also means that Brentford, Bournemouth, Fulham and Brighton will all miss out on European competition next term.
If Manchester City had lifted the FA Cup and also ended the season within the Premier League’s top five, their Europa League qualification would have cascaded down to the side finishing seventh. That knock-on effect would have seen the eighth-placed team claim the Premier League’s sole Europa Conference League slot.
Chelsea still have a route into the Europa League by winning the Conference League. However, should they also end the campaign in the top five domestically, that European place would not be redistributed further down the table.
Palace’s victory has changed the equation, ensuring that only the seventh-placed team will now qualify for the Conference League. As a result, European aspirations for the aforementioned four clubs, who could still all mathematically finish in eighth, have all but come to an end but for one circumstance.
Should Chelsea win the Conference League and drop down to seventh in the Premier League table, then eighth place would once again be granted access to the Conference League. For that to happen, the Blues would need to lose their final game of the season against Nottingham Forest, while Aston Villa, City, and Forest would need to win all their remaining contests.
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How Things Stand in Race For Europe
The standings will go down to the final day
With just one more week of Premier League action left, it is still all to play for for the teams aiming to qualify for their respective European competitions. Teams from second down to seventh could all mathematically switch positions, meaning it is all to play for.
As things stand, Arsenal, Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa make up the rest of the top five behind champions Liverpool, meaning they are set to feature in the Champions League next term. Meanwhile, City currently lay in sixth, which is good enough for the Europa League, where they will join Palace after losing to them at Wembley.
This would mean that Nottingham Forest will have to settle for a return to Europe via the Conference League as a result of their end-of-season dip in form. There will still yet be more English representation in the Champions League though, as one of Manchester United or Tottenham will earn a place should they win the Europa League this coming Wednesday.
