How difficult is Aston Villa’s Champions League run-in?
Aston Villa are fighting on two fronts. One has a trophy to play for and the other doesn’t, but both lead to the Champions League.
Villa have seven Premier League matches remaining in the 2025-26. They arrived at the March international break in fourth place, in possession of a Champions League spot despite a poor run of form that finally came to an end with a terrific win against West Ham United on Sunday.
Unai Emery waved a load of his players off on international duty before the rest of the squad headed off to Spain for a mid-season training camp. When they reconvene, the business end of the season will be in full effect.
The state of play in the Premier League
Villa have essentially put themselves in the middle of three different groupings in the league table, at least in the context of the Champions League battle.
Sitting in fourth with 54 points, they’re not going to trouble the top two. Arsenal and Manchester City will take up two of the probable five Champions League spots.
The next group is the most interesting from a Villa perspective, not least because they’re in it.
Manchester United, Villa, Liverpool and Chelsea are third to sixth at the moment. Two of them are in definite Champions League places, one in a probable Champions League place, and one outside the Champions League altogether.
Villa are well placed for the time being, a point behind United but five clear of fifth and sixth clear of sixth. It’s been a rollercoaster of a season but most supporters would have taken that at the beginning of August, never mind the end of it.
The remaining fixtures
Brentford and Everton are both in the picture as the third mini-batch, albeit eight points behind Villa.
Their run-ins are noteworthy in that their next fixtures is against each other and they also both have to play Manchester City and Liverpool. Brentford will have an additional say, playing Manchester United next month.
Without writing those two chasers off prematurely – in some respects they’re the form teams of the six – the chances are the four teams above them will scrap it out for the three available spots. One will be left standing when the music stops.
As the Premier League season pauses for a few weeks, let’s take stock and have a look at the seven fixtures remaining for each of the teams in the Champions League mix.
| Match Week | Manchester United | Aston Villa | Liverpool | Chelsea | Brentford | Everton |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 32 | Leeds United (H) | Nottingham Forest (A) | Fulham (H) | Manchester City (H) | Everton (H) | Brentford (A) |
| 33 | Chelsea (A) | Sunderland (H) | Everton (A) | Manchester United (H) | Fulham (H) | Liverpool (H) |
| 34 | Brentford (H) | Fulham (A) | Crystal Palace (H) | Brighton & Hove Albion (A) | Manchester United (A) | West Ham United (A) |
| 35 | Liverpool (H) | Tottenham Hotspur (H) | Manchester United (A) | Nottingham Forest (H) | West Ham United (H) | Manchester City (H) |
| 36 | Sunderland (A) | Burnley (A) | Chelsea (H) | Liverpool (A) | Manchester City (A) | Crystal Palace (A) |
| 37 | Nottingham Forest (H) | Liverpool (H) | Aston Villa (A) | Tottenham Hotspur (H) | Crystal Palace (H) | Sunderland (H) |
| 38 | Brighton & Hove Albion (A) | Manchester City (A) | Brentford (H) | Sunderland (A) | Liverpool (A) | Tottenham Hotspur (A) |
Manchester United play three of the six: Chelsea away, Brentford at home and Liverpool at home. Notably those are consecutive fixtures, a burst that could well define what the Red Devils need from a pretty favourable last pair of games.
Aston Villa only have one game against a Champions League competitor but that home fixture against Liverpool will be followed by a final-day visit to Champions League dead certs and possible title-chasers Man City.
Three of Villa’s matches will be against teams in the relegation battle. Burnley will probably be gone by the time Villa go to Turf Moor but Nottingham Forest and Tottenham Hotspur will be fighting for their lives. You know, maybe.
Liverpool must play all three of their direct competition back-to-back-to-back as well as both Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium and Brentford, who they’ll host on the last day of the season.
Chelsea have it all to do as the team on the outside and play the two Manchester clubs at Stamford Bridge in their next two fixtures. They have Liverpool away to come, and will play whatever passes for Spurs on the penultimate day of the season.
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