There’s a scenario whereby Liverpool may have Bournemouth fans cheering them on during the final round of Premier League games on Sunday, even though the Cherries could still mathematically finish above us in the table.
Andoni Iraola’s side were on the cusp of moving to within one point of the fifth-placed Reds on Tuesday night as they led Manchester City in stoppage time, but Erling Haaland’s equaliser has given us a lot more breathing space heading into our match against Brentford at the weekend.
As it stands, Arne Slot’s team hold a three-point advantage and a superior goal difference of six over the south coast club in the race for the final guaranteed Champions League qualification berth from England.
However, there’s a multi-faceted yet plausible scenario in which both Liverpool and Bournemouth could be playing in Europe’s main club competition next term.
For that to happen, the first criterion which needs to be met is for Aston Villa to win the Europa League final against Freiburg tonight, as they’d take the Champions League berth which is reserved for the winner of that competition.
If Unai Emery‘s side were then to lose away to runners-up Man City on Sunday and Liverpool win at home to Brentford, the Reds would move up to fourth on goal difference, nudging Villa into fifth place.
If all of those equations come to pass and Bournemouth stay in sixth (needing only a draw away to Nottingham Forest to do so), the European Performance Spot which is allotted to the fifth-placed side in the Premier League would instead pass down to sixth place, thus seeing the Cherries qualify for the Champions League.
Of course, if Villa were to lose the Europa League final, that mental arithmetic would be redundant and it’d be a simple scenario of the top five in England qualifying for the Champions League.
Should Emery’s side triumph in Istanbul, though, we could have the paradoxical situation of Bournemouth being able to usurp Liverpool for fifth whilst also hoping for a Reds victory to drop the Villans into fifth and duly sneak into Europe’s main club competition.
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What needs to happen for both Liverpool and Bournemouth to qualify for the Champions League?
It’s possible but rather unlikely that the Cherries will pull off the three-point and six-goal swing required to finish above Slot’s team, so their likelier route into the Champions League might be through the latter scenario.
Villa are favourites for the Europa League final, though it’d come as no great surprise if they lose at the Etihad Stadium in Pep Guardiola’s Man City swansong, while Liverpool are capable of beating Brentford if they perform to their best (admittedly a big if, based on what we’ve seen this season).
The Reds are in a very strong position to finally get over the line for Champions League qualification, and they could also play their part in bringing Bournemouth with them if the other dominoes fall in the Cherries’ favour.
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They forget Brentford is also fighting hard to win to get into Europe. If this is klopp’s team, I have full confidence in them beating Brentford at anfield. Now, we are a fortress in tatters and inviting all enemies to come and destroy us.
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