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Premier League guaranteed five clubs in UEFA Champions League next season after Arsenal victory at Sporting CP

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The Premier League will have at least five teams competing in next season's UEFA Champions League after Arsenal's victory over Sporting ensured the English top flight will finish in the top two of UEFA's coefficient table. It is the second season in a row that the Premier League has earned an extra spot, meaning a fifth-placed finish will once again be enough to qualify for the tournament.

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Arsenal’s victory over Sporting CP on Tuesday has secured the Premier League’s fifth spot in next season’s UEFA Champions League.

It is the second successive season that the English top flight has clinched a European Performance Spot (EPS).

UEFA awards an extra place in Europe’s elite competition to the two leagues with the best overall performance in the Champions League, as well as the UEFA Europa League and UEFA Conference League.

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The Premier League has been at the top of the EPS table for most of the campaign, after all nine English clubs competing in Europe reached the last 16 of their respective tournaments.

It put the league in a strong enough position that the decline in results in the knockout stages, notably in the Champions League, with four of the six English teams going out in the round of 16, had not knocked them off top spot.

Arsenal's 1-0 win in Lisbon in the first leg of their quarter-final tie, thanks to Kai Havertz's late goal, has ensured the Premier League will remain in the top two by the end of the campaign.

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With a fifth-placed finish now enough to secure Champions League football, it sets up an entertaining finish to the domestic campaign, with a host of teams currently battling it out for the all-important position.

Liverpool currently occupy fifth spot, trailing fourth-placed Aston Villa by five points and Manchester United by six points.

Chelsea are the closest challengers to Arne Slot’s side, just a point adrift in sixth.

Brentford and Everton trail Liverpool by three points, while Fulham, Brighton & Hove Albion, Sunderland, Newcastle United and Bournemouth are all within seven points.

Should Liverpool fail to finish in the top five but win the Champions League, that will result in six English teams qualifying for next season’s tournament.

Similarly, if Aston Villa finish outside the top five and win the Europa League, or Nottingham Forest win Europe's second-tier competition, there will be six sides from the Premier League competing in the Champions League.

That was the case this season, with Newcastle benefiting from the EPS after finishing fifth in the league and Spurs securing qualification thanks to their Europa League triumph.

If Liverpool or Aston Villa win their respective European competitions and finish fifth domestically, then the team in sixth in the Premier League would qualify for the Champions League thanks to the EPS place.

If both teams were to go all the way in Europe and finish fifth and sixth in the league, then the team in seventh would go into the Champions League.

Stream the Premier League, men’s and women’s FA Cups, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more live on TNT Sports and HBO Max.

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