[0:00]Okay, we're going to talk about the race for the Champions League now and Brighton, Bournemouth and Brentford fans have good reason to be cheering for Aston Villa tonight in that all English Europa League semi-final second leg against Nottingham Forest.
[0:14]That's because those three sides need Villa to win the Europa League if they'd have any chance of going through to the Champions League with a sixth placed Premier League finish.
[0:26]Our football correspondent Rob Dorset is here to explain what is quite a complicated situation. So we're going to do our very best to clear this up.
[0:35]First of all, just remind us how it could be the sixth place side that also goes through to the Champions League.
[0:41]Possibly the most complicated story I've ever tried to explain in all my career at Sky Sports News. Right, crucially this is nothing to do with the Premier League.
[0:50]This is an anomaly that's been created by UEFA's pretty complicated situation with regards to how they allocate their European places.
[0:57]And we found out a few weeks ago, didn't we, that England would get a fifth Champions League place because of how well the English teams have performed in Europe this season.
[1:06]That's called the European performance spot, but under UEFA's rules, they give priority to teams that win European competitions ahead of that, ahead of where they finish in their domestic league.
[1:17]And so if Aston Villa were to win the Europa League, that EPS spot would go to the sixth placed team in the Premier League and they would qualify for the Champions League.
[1:26]There's three criteria then that have got to happen in order for for that to happen.
[1:33]Firstly, Aston Villa have to win the Europa League, as we've mentioned.
[1:37]Secondly, Aston Villa have to finish fifth in the Premier League table.
[1:41]Not fourth, not sixth, they have to finish. Has to be fixed. Okay. And then finally, the FA Cup winners have to finish in the top seven.
[1:47]Manchester City, that's going to happen.
[1:50]If it's Chelsea, they're ninth at the minute, so they might need to be some improvement there, but if any one of those three criteria doesn't happen, England will not get a sixth Champions League place.
[1:58]Okay, so that is, uh, first of all, the first thing that you need to know.
[2:03]Can you also explain to us this bizarre situation where I couldn't believe this when I heard this where it could be better for Brentford or Brighton to lose their matches on the final day of the Premier League season in order to get into the Champions League?
[2:22]It sounds bizarre, doesn't it? And again, it's nothing that is in the control of the Premier League.
[2:28]It's all down to a quirk, an anomaly in UEFA rules. It doesn't apply to Bournemouth, that's the first thing we should say.
[2:34]Bournemouth, Brighton and Brentford are all battling for that sixth place, but Bournemouth, this doesn't apply to.
[2:38]Why? Because they're not playing a team above them on the final day of the season.
[2:41]Right. They're playing Nottingham Forest, whereas Brighton and Brentford both are, and if either Brighton or Brentford are sixth going into that final round of matches, it may be better for them to lose rather than win, and we're going to show you exactly why.
[2:53]Here's the fixtures look, and we'll, we'll talk about those in due course.
[2:59]But remember the key criteria for England to get a sixth Champions League spot is for Aston Villa to finish fifth.
[3:03]Yeah. And win the Europa League, but we're assuming they're going to do that and finish fifth.
[3:07]So if Brighton or Brentford is sixth, and they're playing Liverpool and Manchester United respectively, Brighton or Brentford don't want to damage Manchester United's or Liverpool's chances of finishing above Aston Villa, because Villa, if if they win, could jump above Manchester United or Aston Villa.
[3:23]And look again at the fixtures, look, Brentford are at Anfield, Brighton at home to Manchester United.
[3:29]So it may be beneficial if Brighton or Brentford is in sixth position at that stage, to lose that match, to try and help Aston Villa finish fifth.
[3:37]Unbelievable. It's a bizarre situation. It's still pretty unlikely at the moment because there's an awful lot of football to be played between now and then, but it explains exactly why tonight, Brentford, Bournemouth, and Brighton fans are all going to be cheering very, very loudly for Aston Villa to go through this semi-final in the Europa League and then win the thing at the end.
[3:54]But you know what this does? This throws up a whole other lot of questions as well, doesn't it, in terms of integrity of the league, doesn't it?
[4:02]Because you effectively, you want to lose a game.
[4:06]Now that, that could impact, you know, other parts of the league as well, couldn't it?
[4:10]I mean, it's different because none of them are playing say Manchester City or Arsenal, but it, you know, it could have affected the title race.
[4:18]It's a nightmare scenario for the Premier League because it's not in their control.
[4:23]This is a UEFA dictate, it's UEFA's way of calculating the the qualification for its elite competitions that has thrown up this anomaly.
[4:29]It may not happen, it probably won't happen, but it's been discussed an awful lot on social media and so that's why we felt we had to check it out and tell you the truth of what the situation could be.
[4:40]That table you're looking at there is hypothetical. It's not definite. Look, we've got plenty 37 games played.
[4:46]Well, most of them have played 35, some of them 34 as things stand right now.
[4:50]So there's a lot of football to be played, but if we end up with this scenario going into the final round of matches, we will have that bizarre situation where Brighton or Brentford will probably feel better off to lose rather than win in terms of getting into the Champions League.
[5:03]I should say as well, by the way, Brighton or Brentford won't want to lose and drop a place and end up as seventh, because then they wouldn't get the Champions League spot anyway.
[5:09]So there's more complications and more hypotheticals to throw into all of this, but this scenario we've painted for you, I hope gives you an idea of just what a bizarre situation it could be.
[5:18]Well done with all that, by the way. Thank you. Rather you than me. Anyway, I feel a lot more informed. I hope you do as well.
