Nine English clubs are in, and there is still a question mark
The Premier League will send nine teams into Europe for a second straight season. Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool are in the Champions League. Bournemouth, Sunderland and Crystal Palace are in the Europa League. Brighton are in the Conference League, provided they get past Tromsø after a 0-0 first-leg draw in Norway.
The money on offer is huge. Arsenal banked well over 100 million pounds from their run to last season’s final.
But one question, which Opta’s data makes less far-fetched than it first sounds, hangs over all of this: does Europe cost you league places?
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What 2025-26 showed
Three clubs juggling continental football slipped badly. Chelsea dropped six places and finished 10th. Newcastle fell seven and ended up in the bottom half for the first time since 2021-22. Nottingham Forest slid nine places and spent the season flirting with relegation, a year after finishing seventh and qualifying for Europe. Tottenham did not fall down the table, but they did manage a second straight 17th-place finish. Stunning consistency, that.
The two biggest climbs came from clubs with no European baggage. Manchester United jumped 12 places. Bournemouth rose three.
That said, there is no hard-and-fast rule. Arsenal won the title while reaching the Champions League final. Manchester City moved up one place. Aston Villa went from sixth to fourth as they won the Europa League. On the flip side, West Ham and Wolverhampton each dropped four places before going down, with no European football cluttering up their schedule at all.
Rest and miles matter more than Europe itself
Two factors stand out more clearly than simply being in Europe.
The first is recovery time. Behind Arsenal and City, who have the squad depth to rotate even in the Champions League, the shortest gaps between matches belonged to Crystal Palace, Newcastle, Forest, Villa, Liverpool and Chelsea. Of that bunch, only Villa improved in the table. Next came Tottenham, who came perilously close to the drop.
At the other end, Bournemouth and Manchester United had the longest breaks. Both clubs played 40 matches in all competitions, the lowest total in the division.
The second is travel. The four teams who covered the most miles in 2025-26, both overall and per game, all fell down the standings. Manchester United were among the least-travelled sides.
Then there is rotation. European clubs changed their starting XI 93.7 times on average across the season, or 2.5 changes per matchday. The clubs staying at home made only 70.9 changes, or 1.9 per matchday.
Recent history points the same way. Chelsea won the title in 2016-17 without Europe. Arsenal finished second in 2022-23 without Champions League football. Newcastle ended up fourth and fifth in their two non-European seasons over the last four, compared with seventh and 12th when they were in it. Tottenham’s best season in that stretch remains their fifth-place finish in 2023-24, the only one without Europe.
None of which will stop any of them wanting back in. The money is there. So is the pull.
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