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West Ham United’s win in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday night handed Manchester United a massive boost in what will be a difficult push for Champions League football next season.
By beating Bundesliga team Freiberg at the Olympic Stadium, West Ham have put England in a strong position to close the 0.875 gap in UEFA coefficient rankings that was between the two countries at the start of the week.
Europe’s premier competition will undergo a change of rules for the first time since the 2003/04 season, which will see the competition’s capacity increase from 32 to 36 teams. The usual four-team group format will be replaced with a ‘Swiss’ style.
Teams will play eight matches against eight different opponents in a 36-team league format, with four games at home and four away.
Two of the four extra places offered by UEFA will go to the best-ranking leagues in European competitions at the end of this season. This could be England, Italy, France or Germany.
Two of the extra spots will be awarded to the best-performing leagues in Europe this season, and, thanks to West Ham’s win over Freiburg on Thursday night, England have raced ahead of Germany in the bid to earn the extra spot.
This could be great news for United, who are currently sixth in the Premier League table and five points behind Tottenham, who hold fifth place.
The top five are all likely to qualify should English teams continue to outperform their German counterparts in Europe.
What this means for Erik ten Hag’s side is they now only need to bridge the 5 point gap between them and Spurs instead of the 8 point gap between them and Aston Villa in fourth.
It will now be a race between now and the end of season to see which of Spurs and Manchester United make it to that final 5th Champion’s League position.
A Champions League berth for ten Hag and his side will be a miracle after what has been an absolutely treacherous season for them.
