Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Real Madrid on Tuesday has secured five automatic Champions League places for England next season, giving Aston Villa a major edge
Aston Villa have been handed a major boost in their pursuit of qualifying for next season’s Champions League after it was confirmed that England are guaranteed a minimum of five teams in the competition.
England needed one win, in any of the three European competitions, to secure the fifth place. Two extra spots are awarded to countries based on their ranking in UEFA’s coefficient table.
And Arsenal’s thumping 3-0 win over Real Madrid got the job done for England, meaning that the Premier League top-five are going to be in the Champions League, for sure, in 2025/26.
If Villa do not win the Champions League, they now require to finish in the top five, rather than in the top four, to book their place in Europe’s top-tier competition next season.
Unai Emery’s Villa sit seventh in the Premier League with seven matches to go. Three successive wins, including Saturday’s 2-1 success over Nottingham Forest, has put Villa right back in the race to finish in the Champions League places and they are now within touching distance of the top five.
They are two points behind fifth-place Newcastle United and Chelsea in fourth, and sixth adrift of Nottingham Forest in third, as Villa battle to finish in a guaranteed Champions League spot.
Villa might not need a top-five finish in the Premier League to be in Europe’s elite club competition next season. Should Villa win the Champions League, they will, of course, automatically qualify for the tournament.
Emery’s men travel to Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their quarter-final tie on Wednesday. Speaking ahead of the game, the Spaniard said: “Aston Villa is a historic club that won the European Cup in 1982 and of course it is very special in football,” Emery pointed out at a press conference in Paris on Tuesday on the eve of the first leg.
“When I arrived at Villa two-and-a-half years ago I knew this history. Of course my challenge at that moment was to compete for trophies, and to get back into Europe. To be in the Champions League is really amazing but maintaining consistency is the next challenge.
“To be playing a Champions League quarter-final in Paris is really special for everybody involved with Villa but we want to be consistently doing it at this level.”
The odds appear to be against Villa heading into the last eight tie against PSG, who beat Liverpool to reach this stage of the competition, but midfielder Youri Tielemans believes Emery has given them confidence to go to Parc des Princes and bring a result back to Villa Park for the second leg.
Tielemans said: ” [Emery gives us] a lot of confidence. Obviously he knows what it is to be at this stage of the competition. He’s got a plan in place and we’re just ready to play the game tomorrow.”