With Sheffield United’s exit from the FA Cup confirming that the winner of the competition will be within the top six of the Premier League, a seventh-placed finish is now confirmed to be all that is required for a playoff place in the Europa Conference League.
Kieran Trippier reiterated on Sunday that Newcastle United want Champions League football next season, and are on course to achieve that following their 6-1 mauling of Spurs. It would take a monumental collapse now for Newcastle to finish outside of the top seven, so ChronicleLive have figured out exactly when European qualification could be secured.
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Provided Newcastle win their next two games and Liverpool lose their next three, a European adventure could be guaranteed at the beginning of next month. Both Liverpool and Newcastle are away from home in midweek.
On Wednesday Liverpool travel to the London Stadium to face the in-form West Ham, with Newcastle traveling to Merseyside for a match against Everton the next day.
Both sides play at home on the final day of the month. Newcastle are the early kick-off as they play bottom placed Southampton, while the Reds host the out-of-sorts Spurs before welcoming Fulham three days later on May 3.
In the admittedly unlikely event that Liverpool lose two at Anfield within the space of a week after picking up no points in the capital, they would find themselves 15 points adrift of the Geordies (given they win both of their respective games) with just four games left.
A more likely scenario is May 13, given Newcastle match or better Aston Villa’s results between now and then. If Newcastle beat Everton, Southampton and Leeds, while taking a point from Arsenal, they would find themselves on 69 points at the end of the day.
If in the same time period, Villa beat Fulham, Wolves and Spurs while taking a point from Old Trafford, they will be on 61 points at the end of May 13. With just two games for them to play, it would be insurmountable for them to make up the eight point deficit on Newcastle.
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