Eighth up for grabs? Keep an eye on Chelsea

Before this season, Crystal Palace's victory at Wembley would have tidied up the European qualification position within the Premier League.

However, England gaining a coveted European Performance Spot has added a layer of complication, which is why Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth and Fulham fans should not give up hope of a Conference League place just yet.

Here is why.

Ordinarily, England gets four Champions League places, two in the Europa League, for the FA Cup winners and the fifth placed team and one in the Conference League for the Carabao Cup winners.

So far, so straightforward.

If the Carabao Cup winners qualify for one of the higher ranking European competitions, the Conference League spot goes to the next team down in the Premier League.

Just as Manchester United or Tottenham will qualify for the Champions League because one of them will win the Europa League after finishing outside the Champions League places, the same is also true for Chelsea if they win the Conference League and finish outside the Europa League places.

Still with me?

The complication comes through EPS. So, while fifth now gets you into the Champions League and sixth into the Europa League, for the purposes of competition qualification, the EPS situation doesn't count.

So, if Chelsea finish sixth and win the Conference League, without EPS, they would already be in the Conference League berth, so they go into the Europa League as Conference League winners and England would not take its Conference League place. With EPS added, instead of the sixth-placed team (Chelsea) qualifying for the Europa League through their league placing, because they are already in, the seventh-placed team benefits. So that would be three English teams in the Europa League and none in the Conference League.

By the same process, if Chelsea finish seventh and win the Conference League, without EPS, they would qualify for the Europa League despite being outside the European places, meaning three English teams in the Europa League – Chelsea, Palace and the fifth placed team – and one – the sixth-placed team – in the Conference League. With EPS added, everything drops down a place BUT as Chelsea are already in the Europa League, instead of the Conference League spot going to them after finishing seventh, it goes to the eighth placed team.

In other words, the teams battling for eighth need Chelsea to win the Conference League and to finish seventh.