Guardiola: City will fight to the end

as Citizen slip and Villa win

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, after his side’s draw on Saturday, May 10, 2025, said his side will have to “fight until the end” in the race to secure a Champions League spot.

City could have taken a huge step towards sealing a top-five spot, but drew 0-0 at bottom-placed Southampton.

They are now only two points above Newcastle and Chelsea – who meet on Sunday, plus Aston Villa, who beat Bournemouth on Saturday evening.

Seventh-placed Nottingham Forest, who play relegated Leicester on Sunday, are four points behind City.

After the Saints draw, Guardiola said his side had three cup finals left – including next weekend’s actual FA Cup final against Crystal Palace.

“I didn’t expect differently from a month ago, that it’s a fight until the end,” he said.

City could find themselves outside the Champions League places before they play in the league again (against Bournemouth on Tuesday, 20 May).

This is because most of their rivals will have played once or twice before then.

Only champions Liverpool have sealed a Champions League place so far.

But second-placed Arsenal, who visit Anfield on Sunday, will hope to soon join them.

Saturday’s results meant Aston Villa guaranteed European football next season and manager Unai Emery said:

“[The Champions League] is the best competition in the world. [To qualify] through the Premier League, it’s very difficult with lots of teams competing very well and they have more points than us.

“We are going to fight for it. First objective clearly is to qualify for Europe again and we’ve achieved that today.”

The race for eighth is just as tight

There will be nine Premier league teams competing in Europe next season, up from the usual seven.

However, things could change in the final weeks of the campaign.

Crystal Palace, who are 12th, would qualify for the Europa League if they win the FA Cup final.

Brentford, Brighton, Bournemouth, and to a lesser extent Fulham, are all vying for eighth spot which might be enough.

The Bees are in eighth, above Albion on goal difference, two points ahead of the Cherries and four clear of the Cottagers.

Brentford boss Thomas Frank, after a 1-0 win at Ipswich, told BBC Sport: “We have got the momentum which is important.

“We are close to finishing eighth which would be the best position ever in the league.

“We are laser focused on what we can do.

“We have given very little away but still created a lot.

“We just need to push and enjoy it, the next two games, and then reset our target,” he added.

Manchester United and Tottenham meet in the Europa League final with the winners taking a sixth Champions League spot for English teams next season.

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