Chelsea ideal Champions League scenario confirmed after massive Arsenal favour

Chelsea can have a thank you to say to rivals Arsenal in part, as it is their victory over Real Madrid on Tuesday night that has ensured Premier League clubs can qualify for next season's Champions League via a fifth-place finish in the table.

With English top-flight teams back in European action this week, one win for any of them still involved was enough to guarantee the fifth place for the .

An extra qualification spot for the 2025/26 campaign is to be awarded to the two countries that accumulate the highest UEFA coefficient ranking throughout the current one. Points are collected for performance in European competition - two for a win and one for a draw.

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A country's points total is then divided by the number of clubs they have enrolled in UEFA's competitions, thus ending up with a coefficient ranking.

And at the Emirates has taken England over the line, meaning that they will have at worst five teams in next season's Champions League.

Also highly beneficial to the collective cause were Liverpool, the Gunners and Aston Villa all qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages automatically.

Manchester United and also reached the Europa League knockouts automatically whilst finished top of the Europa Conference League standings unbeaten to make the knockouts of that competition.

Now it means the Blues have been given a boost in their quest to return to Europe's elite next term.

Enzo Maresca and Co. have fought hard over the current campaign and currently sit fourth in the Premier League standings with seven matches to go. They are four points shy of third-place Nottingham Forest but only another six points better off than ninth-placed Brighton.

So, with room for error there is still no guarantee they would have made the top four. Now that it has become a top five that will make next season's Champions League, easing minds but only very slightly.

Under previous UEFA rules as many as five teams from one country could only play in a single competition but now this rule has been scrapped.

This can put to bed any fear that Chelsea would be demoted to the Europa League in the scenario Villa won the Champions League and finished outside of the Premier League's top five.

Thus, as many as seven English teams could end up in UEFA's top competition next year as things stand - the top five plus this season's winners of the Champions League and Europa League.