How Premier League could boast ELEVEN teams in Europe next season...

THE PREM could still have 11 teams in Europe next season – although it needs Aston Villa to pull off the mother of all Champions League comebacks to still be on.

Arsenal’s quarter-final first-leg thrashing of Real Madrid last week confirmed that England will have a fifth place next term, for the first time.

Soccer players in action during a UEFA Champions League match. — Aston Villa's second leg against PSG will be integral for other Prem clubs and their European hopes

Brighton's Pervis Estupinan in action against Fulham. — Fulham and Brighton could still qualify for Europe

But if Villa were to find a way of overhauling their 3-1 first-leg deficit when Paris Saint-Germain visit the West Midlands tomorrow and go on to lift the trophy in Munich next month, that would mean six Prem teams in the competition.

That would even extend to SEVEN if either Tottenham or can progress and win the .

And there is the possibility of a further FOUR places on offer if make their status as Conference League favourites count by adding that trophy to the club’s European haul.

If the standings in the Prem table were not to change between now and the end of the season, the current top five of Liverpool, , Nottingham Forest, Newcastle and would all earn a passage directly into the initial stage of the Champions League.

English football also has three more guaranteed European slots, two in the Europa League plus one in the Conference League.

But only one of those places, the second Europa League spot, would normally be awarded by a Prem finish, with the winners of the and respectively taking the automatic entries.

However, a Wembley Final triumph for City or semi-final opponents Forest, or for Villa if they win the Champions League, will mean the place would revert to the Prem table.

With Newcastle having won the Carabao Cup, their qualification for the Champions League would open the place in the third-tier competition.

Illustration of a table showing how 11 Premier League teams could qualify for European competitions.

If Chelsea win the Conference League AND qualify for Europe through their League position, England would have a maximum of 10 sides in continental action.

However, if Enzo Maresca’s Blues blow up in the Prem but still win the Conference League it would open up the path for a remarkable English battalion next term.

That could see Europa League football for and Brighton, with squeezing into the Conference League.