Excuse my ignorance and if this has been discussed before on here but it's looking likely that we will battling it out with Liverpool and Spurs for Europa league qualification. Now Liverpool and Arsenal are still in the FA cup, so if they both get to the final, does that mean an extra league place will be open to qualify? It would take a dramatic loss of form for us to finish lower than 7th, so I hope we can relax if it is an Arsenal v Liverpool cup final.
If Liverpool win but do not finish in the top 4 then no extra place will be given. If Either team win and finish in the top 4 then an extra place is given
So quite possible the team will come off the pitch at Man City not knowing if they've qualified for Europe or not...
If liverpool win the FA cup and finish 5th then surely the 7th place team would get into europe? We have 3 spaces for the europa cup, Carling cup winners, FA cup winners and 5th place in the league.
As I understand things, 5th place in the league gets a spot. If the League Cup winner qualifies for Europe through the league, then 6th is given that place. If the FA Cup winner qualifies through the league... I was certain that the spot no longer goes to the runner up (and if the final is Arsenal Liverpool, then I'm not sure it matters anyway), but there's so much bloody legalese that I just don't know anymore. The best solution is to finish above spurs.
I believe the runner up would only qualify if the team they lost to in the final qualifies for the Champions League as oppose to the Europa League. So if Arsenal were to beat Aston Villa in the final (assuming Arsenal finish top 4) Aston Villa would qualify for Europe through coming runner up. Similar example, Hull last season. However if Liverpool beat Reading in the final (assuming Liverpool miss out on top 4) then Reading would not qualify for Europa through runner up. Unless this has changed this season then I believe this is how the qualification process works.
And Liverpool 5th place goes straight into group stages I believe, which means our season wouldn't start in July.
The runner up of the FA cup no longer qualifies for europe as a lucky loser regardless of who wins it. So basically if its a Liverpool v Arsenal final and both teams finish in the top 5 then 7th place is good enough to qualify for the Europa league qualifying rounds.
Am hoping for us in 5th, Swansea do a stormer and finish 6th, Villa beat Pool in the semis and then beat Arse in the final. Spurs and Pool get nothing. Then during the summer Spurs have a big clear out to free up cash, but no one wants to join them. Pool players leave to join bigger more ambitious clubs leaving Lovren and Lallana living the dream
I'm so torn about the Europa League. Part of me wants everything coming out of the club to be true and achievable in that this season isn't a fluke and we will be challenging for European spots for the foreseeable future, and the Europa League would be a hindrance in that respect. The other, probably more realistic part of me, thinks that this season probably is a fluke and a European campaign could be potentially brilliant and we should be taking the chance as it could be our only chance for awhile.
I want to make the Europa only because it will show what a good season we have had. Yes, it can harm your league form, but only if you have a decent run. Our last campaign only consisted of 2 games Want to do better than that. Is this year a fluke? We have had 1 reasonable season in the EPL and 2 good seasons....which suggests that our system works, but all depends how the summer pans out with transfers.
This from a Uefa executive committee report from October 2013: " No more cup runners-up in the UEFA Europa League In the club competitions, and more specifically the UEFA Europa League, the question ofwhether domestic cup runners-up should qualify if cup winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League was once again debated. Most nationalassociations thought this rule should be changed so that the place reserved for the domestic cup winner would go to the best-placed club in the league championship that had not already qualified for a UEFA competition. This change should come into force from the 2015/16 season."
It is possible for us to have mathematically qualified for Europe come the end of next weekend. If Liverpool and Arsenal both win their SFs next weekend (it is correct to say that the runners-up no longer get a EL spot, so theoretically we don't need both of them to win the SFs - but clearly if they do, then it takes away any concerns that Reading or Villa might win the thing!), then 7th place will absolutely qualify for Europe. At present we are seven points clear of 8th place, with 21 available. If we win today and next weekend, we will be anywhere between seven and 13 points clear of 8th place, with 12 available. So if it's the full 13, then we would have qualified. All that would be left would be to decide in which position. And of course the side who currently occupy that 8th place are Swansea - and they are currently 1-0 down at HT. Next weekend they are away to Leicester. West Ham and Stoke are the other sides to look at, with us needing them each to draw (or lose) once. And guess what, they play each other today.
All that previous post's number crunching and it was all for nothing. I've done that a couple of times during writing posts. Bloody annoying, eh..!
The runners up in the FA Cup DO NOT get a place in the Europa League regardless of who wins the FA Cup. If the winner of the Cup has qualified for Europe the spare place goes to the league. So 7th will most likely get us a Europa League place.
A sensible decision taken there!!! Mind you would Villa even want to play a Europa League tournament should they win the FA Cup and be relegated. 46bleague games, plus the Coca Coal and Europe League!!! I think a club in that position would probably decline!!
I don't understand why anyone wouldn't want us to qualify for the Europa League. Would we turn down Champions League saying it would affect the squad?
