Champions League race predictions update after Newcastle beat Chelsea and Man City drop points | OneFootball

Gunners are all but certain to avoid being dragged into the mix

Fate in their own hands: Chelsea

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Gameweek 35 of the Premier League campaign saw Newcastle emerge as the biggest winners. Their 2-0 victory over Chelsea has seen them leapfrog Manchester City in the table after Pep Guardiola’s side were held to a goalless draw by already relegated Southampton.

In an interesting turn of events, Arsenal are still not yet guaranteed a top-five finish, but their point at Anfield against champions Liverpool was a giant step in the right direction.

With that in mind, here is the state of the race to finish in the top five...

Top five race predicted

According to Opta, the Gunners have an 99.9 per cent chance of qualifying for the Champions League. This means it would take an unlikely set of results for Mikel Arteta’s side to miss out on a top five finish.

Newcastle’s chances of a top five finished have increased from 77.89% to 95.5%, whilst Man City now have a 92.7 per cent chance of returning to Europe’s top table for the 2025/26 campaign.

Chelsea currently occupy the final qualification spot, but following their loss at St James’ Park, Opta rate their chances of staying in the top five at 56.3% which is down from 66.52%.

Aston Villa, perhaps should be confident of Champions League qualification for a second season in a row considering they face Tottenham and Manchester United in their remaining Premier League fixtures. Their chances have been raised to just under 40 per cent, which is a big jump from 13.69% just last week.

Nottingham Forest have the weakest shot, sitting at 17.8%.

Who will finish in the top five?