Five Premier League teams will battle it out for three Champions League places on the final day of the season.
Champions Liverpool and Arsenal have secured their place in European club football’s premier competition and a draw against Fulham on the final day should ensure Manchester City join them, after Pep Guardiola’s side beat Bournemouth on Tuesday to move on to 68 points.
Newcastle are one of three teams on 66 points, alongside Chelsea and Aston Villa, with Nottingham Forest on 65 points.
Five English sides will qualify for the Champions League through the league, up from the usual four, with an extra place secured because of positive results by Premier League clubs in Europe this season.
Newcastle know a home win against Everton next Sunday (16:00 BST) would successfully finish the job.
For Chelsea, a win would also be enough. But… they visit Forest, who beat West Ham 2-1 on Sunday to keep their own hopes alive.
Forest need to beat the Blues and hope at least one team above them slips up.
Villa will probably need to win at Manchester United and hope for favours elsewhere.
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The winners of Wednesday’s Europa League final between Manchester United and Tottenham will also qualify for next season’s Champions League, meaning there will be a sixth English team in the competition, but that has no impact on any league permutations.
With Spurs and United in the bottom five of the Premier League, whoever loses in Bilbao will have no European football of any kind next season.
Another European finalist, Chelsea, could have a say in what other English teams qualify for various European competitions, but more on that later.
