With the new, expanded tournament, there will be two extra places for two association members. Could United squeeze in?
A Kristoffer Ajer equaliser deep into stoppage time dented Manchester United’s chances of sneaking a win at Brentford on Sunday night and deprived Ten Hag’s team of three invaluable points in the battle to secure European football next season.
With Spurs and Villa winning their respective matches, the gap between United in sixth and Villa in fourth now stands at 11 points, although the midlanders have played an extra game.
There are a possible 27 points still in play for Spurs and United (24 for Villa) so mathematically, fourth place is still attainable. Whether United can nudge Emery’s Villa from fourth and snaffle the final Champions League berth is another matter.
Ten Hag will know what that entails - United must win each and every one of their remaining games and hope Villa and Spurs both lose three. At this stage of the game, that is a very big ask. In the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, the team has only won nine straight matches once - Mourinho’s United did it in 2016/17 but across three competitions, which included a run of six consecutive wins in the league.
Looking at the calendar, with Chelsea, Liverpool, Newcastle, Arsenal and Brighton still to come, it looks even less likely.
That doesn’t mean that United cannot qualify for next season’s Champions League via another route - the European Performance Spots. UEFA have expanded the next edition from 32 to 36 teams with two of the extra places awarded to association members with the best average coefficient across all of this season’s European competitions (Champions League, Europa League, Conference League).
In those tournaments, a win is worth two
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