West Ham & Liverpool have just had their UCL hopes boosted without even having to kick a ball

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Arsenal are out of the Europa League and that’s something that Liverpool and West Ham fans should be relishing.

Indeed, not much was said about it before kick-off, but Arsenal winning the Europa League could have been a big spanner in the works in terms of Liverpool and West Ham’s dreams of playing in next season’s Champions League.

How? Well, due to the fact that the Europa League winners and the Champions League winners are handed a spot in next season’s Champions League, there was a genuine possibility that a 4^th-place finish in the Premier League would have only been awarded a Europa League spot.

You may remember that Spurs were denied the chance to play in the Champions League after finishing 4^th in 2012 due to the fact that Chelsea won UEFA’s premier competition.

The rule was later amended so that this couldn’t happen again, but with the Europa League winners also now being handed a UCL spot, there is a rare circumstance where a 4^th-placed finish in the Premier League wouldn’t be good enough for a place in the Champions League.

Indeed, it’s rather complicated, but if the Europa League winners and the Champions League winners were both to finish outside of the top four, then, due to the fact a maximum of five teams from one country can qualify for the competition in any given year, only the top-three spots in the Premier League would be rewarded with UCL qualification.

Of course, it’s very rarely an issue as any team good enough to win the Champions League or the Europa League are usually one of their nation’s top sides, but this year it seemed to be a distinct possibility.

With Chelsea, who could realistically drop out of the top four, in the Champions League final and Arsenal one step away from a Europa League final, at one point it seemed as though Liverpool or West Ham may have needed to finish in the top three to clinch qualification for next year’s Champions League.

However, with Arsenal being eliminated by Villarreal, the path has cleared and a fourth-placed finish will now guarantee you a spot at the top table of European football next season, boosting Liverpool and West Ham’s chances of playing Champions League football in 2021/22.

Thursday evening may have been an awful night for Arsenal, but Liverpool and West Ham both received a massive boost without even having to kick a ball.