Arsenal were confirmed as Premier League champions after Manchester City drew 1-1 with Bournemouth on Tuesday, a result that wrapped up the title race and left the sport’s final Sunday fixtures to sort out continental places and one remaining relegation spot.
The headline is simple: Arsenal sit at the top, but the table beneath them is still very much in play. The top five teams are guaranteed Champions League football this year, and there is a live possibility that the sixth-placed side could also be promoted into Europe’s premier competition — a scenario that hinges on the positions of Aston Villa and Liverpool on the final day.
Ben Bloom noted the pathway: the sixth place would be upgraded to a Champions League spot if Aston Villa drop below Liverpool into fifth place in the final table on Sunday. Bloom added the reason behind that quirk: because Villa are Europa League winners, they would not require the European Performance Spot normally awarded to the fifth-placed team, and that berth would consequently pass down to sixth.
Below the very top, the table is a scramble. Liverpool, Bournemouth, Brighton and Hove Albion, Chelsea, Brentford and Sunderland were all still contesting some form of European qualification on Sunday. Chelsea, Brentford and Sunderland could each finish as high as seventh or as low as 12th, while Newcastle United, Everton and Fulham face ranges between ninth and 14th place — small swings on the final day could reorder who plays in Europe next season.
At the bottom, two of the three relegation places had already been decided: Wolves and Burnley were confirmed as two of the sides going down. That left 17th place — the final lifeline — to be settled on Sunday, with Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United both fighting to avoid that last relegation slot; Tottenham were due to host Everton and West Ham to host Leeds United in the closing fixtures.
There was fresh movement at the other end of the pyramid too: Hull City earned promotion to the Premier League after a 1-0 win over Middlesbrough, and Ipswich Town and Coventry City were also set to join next season. Those promotions lock in significant change for the composition of the division a year from now and add another layer to how clubs will plan transfers and budgets over the summer.
The tension in all of this is not that the title is undecided — it is not — but that the allocation of continental places and the fight to survive have multiple, interlocking conditions that make the final day unusually consequential. A single match result could hand an extra Champions League berth to the sixth-placed club, reorder several clubs in and out of European competition, and seal the fate of the last team to fall through the relegation trapdoor.
The clearest question now is precisely who will finish fifth and sixth: if Aston Villa end up below Liverpool on Sunday, the Champions League field will be expanded to include sixth place, reshaping which clubs secure the financial and sporting rewards that come with Europe’s top competition. Sunday’s fixtures will answer that question — and with it, determine a good deal of how clubs approach the new season.
