How 50% of the Premier League can qualify for Europe as never-before-seen scenario emerges

An against-all-odds scenario that would see half of the Premier League secure European football has emerged.

There is less than three weeks left in the Premier League season and for many clubs there is still so much to play for.

Of course the biggest narrative for the remainder of the season will be the title race between Arsenal, who currently sit atop the league table, and Manchester City.

As it stands, the Gunners are six points ahead of their rivals but with City holding two games in hand, it is still all up to Pep Guardiola's side.

But Arsenal and Manchester City are far from the only clubs looking to pick up crucial points in the coming weeks as West Ham United and London rivals Tottenham Hotspur battle at the bottom of the table for Premier League survival.

Elsewhere of the table there are still over a dozen teams that could secure a place in a European competition next season with has as many as 10 different Premier League clubs able to qualify for European football simultaneously, if a never-before-seen scenario plays out.

At the very least, the top seven clubs in the Premier League will play in Europe next season, with the top five securing Champions League football and sixth and seventh getting a spot in the Europa and Conference league respectively.

But, it is actually very plausible that six sides could play in the Champions League, with Aston Villa finishing in fifth place exactly while winning the Europa League handing qualification to the sixth-placed team in the Premier League.

As it stands, Villa are on course to do half of this already as they sit fifth in the league while trialling Nottingham Forest 1-0 after the first leg of their Europa League semi-final, but they play at home for Thursday's return leg.

This wouldn't have any impact on the European places further down the league table, but that doesn't mean they can't be impacted as the FA Cup could yet play a role.

If Manchester City, the current favourites, win the FA Cup, or if Chelsea win it and finish in the top seven - they are currently ninth - then the European spots will change even more.

This scenario would mean that seventh place would get into the Europa League and eighth would be a Conference League spot.

And things could change even more as If both Nottingham Forest win the Europa League and Crystal Palace win the Conference League without finishing in the top seven or eight, it would mean that half of the league would be in Europe next season.

In this scenario, Nottingham Forest would claim a spot in the Champions League, with Palace securing a Europa League spot in addition to the top eight sides that automatically qualify for Europe.