Villa's win in Istanbul sets up a potential scenario where the Premier League could send six teams to the UEFA Champions League for the second year running. But, how does it work?
Understanding how teams qualify for Europe
To understand why this all could happen, we need to understand England's initial European spots. The top four in the Premier League are awarded a Champions League berth, while fifth place joins the FA Cup winner in the Europa League. The EFL Cup decides who enters the Conference League.
However, if a cup winner finishes in the top five in the league, then that team vacates one of the European spots, giving the sixth-place side a spot in the Europa League or Conference League - depending on which cup winner finished in the top five. If both cup winners end up inside the top six, then seventh place is good enough for the UECL.
In the case of this season, Manchester City, who have finished second in the Premier League, won both domestic cups. As such, fifth and sixth spots are good enough for UEL, while seventh is UECL.
Additionally, the winners of each UEFA club competition are guaranteed a place in Europe the following year. Both the UCL and UEL titleholders qualify for the former's league phase, while the UECL winners earn a UEFA Europa League berth. This is irrespective of domestic performance.
Finally, UEFA also introduced an extra place in the Champions League, known as the European Performance Spot (EPS). The two best-performing nations each season are awarded a spot in the UCL league phase for the following season. This is an extra place in Europe, and is always applied.
Things do get complicated when a European titleholder also qualify for a competition via their domestic league or cup, whereby they hold multiple continental places. To offset this, UEFA completes what is known as titleholder rebalancing.
Regarding England, they already know that they have (at least) eight places in Europe next term: their seven initial spots, plus an EPS, having won the most coefficient points in the 2025/26 season.
Aston Villa already qualified for the Champions League
This is in part where Aston Villa come into the picture. Their victory over Liverpool last Friday ensured they will finish in the top five - earning a Champions League spot.
However, Unai Emery's men also won the Europa League, meaning they will qualify for the UCL via that route. Where they finish in the Premier League depends on how titleholder rebalancing will occur.
In UEFA's regulations, they make clear that the EPS is applied to a country's European places after all titleholder rebalancing is completed. What does this mean?
The spot that Villa occupy in the league after Sunday will determine which place is vacated. For reference, the side from Birmingham can finish fourth or fifth.
A fourth-place finish means Villa has two UCL places: one via the domestic league, and the other through their continental performance. The former spot is vacated. Instead, the highest-ranked team in the UCL qualifiers - Sporting CP - take the extra spot in the UCL league phase. Sporting's initial place in the third qualifying round is also empty, and filled with teams from the previous round.
But, what happens if Villa claim fifth? As previously mentioned, fifth place is a Europa League spot. So, should Villa end up in fifth, they will still participate in the UCL, but that UEL berth is surrendered. In this scenario, it is not awarded to the side who finshed sixth. Instead, Belgium's Sint-Truiden, who are due to start in the playoff round of the UEL, qualify for the league phase. Similar to the case with Sporting, the playoff round spot is also filled.
So how does England end up with six UCL spots?
This is where the European Performance Spot comes into the picture. Once titleholder rebalancing is done, UEFA applies the EPS, and awards it to the highest-ranked team in a country's league that have not already earned a spot in the UCL.
To this point, Villa finishing fifth would mean that they, as well as the top four, would have already qualified for the UCL (the method of qualifying is irrelevant). Again, the EPS is always applied. So, the side finishing sixth would win the EPS berth.
All other European places in the league are passed down, so the seventh-place team earn the UEL spot initially given to the side right above them. In the same vein, eighth place receives the UECL spot.
As things stand, Bournemouth sit in sixth, having secured a European place for the first time. Brighton can still catch them, should they win and the Cherries lose on the final day.
Where things are crucial, however, is what happens in Manchester as well as at Merseyside.
Villa are currently fourth, and will make the trip to Manchester City for the last round. They can be passed by Liverpool, who host Brentford.
For this to happen, Unai Emery's men would have to lose at the Etihad, while Liverpool prevail against the Bees. That would see the two teams level on 62 points, with the Reds finishing fourth on goal difference.
Should this scenario play out, then Villa and Liverpool will be joined in the UCL next term by Arsenal, City, Manchester United, and one of Bournemouth or Brighton, whichever ends in sixth place. If Villa hold onto fourth, then sixth will have to settle for Europa League football in the fall.
England could end up with nine teams in Europe next term if Crystal Palace, who cannot qualify for Europe domestically, win the Conference League next Wednesday. They would join the seventh place (and possibly sixth) in the UEL.
So, suddenly, Bournemouth and Brighton fans will nervously follow what happens in their respective games, but also what transpires at the Etihad and at Anfield. It will decide which European competition they will join in September.