Five points separate five teams – who will prosper in race for Europe?

With goals from Alexander Isak, Dan Burn, and Will Osula, Newcastle moved up to third place in the Premier League with a comfortable win over Ipswich Town on Saturday.

They moved past Manchester City, who earlier won 2-0 against fellow top-five contenders Aston Villa earlier in the week.

Chelsea moved up to fifth place after a crucial 1-0 victory over Everton on Saturday, just two points clear of Newcastle and tied with Nottingham Forest, who are still undefeated.

Only five points separate Villa, in seventh place, from third-placed Newcastle in the English top flight, according to the most recent set of results.

The race for Europe is still tense as the season nears its final weeks as the top five of the Premier League are guaranteed a spot in the Champions League next term.

Villa reached the quarter-finals this year, losing to Paris St-Germain, while Forest have twice won the European Cup, but haven’t played in Europe’s premier competition since 1980.

Things may change in the coming weeks as a minimum of eight Premier League teams, up from the usual seven, are up for grabs in Europe.

This leaves Crystal Palace, who are 12th, in contention for a place in Europe both if they win the FA Cup and through the league.

Arsenal: Southampton (A), Liverpool (A), Newcastle (H), and Bournemouth (H).

Newcastle: Chelsea (H), Arsenal (H), Everton (H), and Brighton (A).

Nottingham Forest includes Chelsea (H), West Ham (H), Crystal Palace (H), and Brentford (H).

Wolves (H), Southampton (A), Bournemouth (H), and Fulham (A) are Manchester City.

Chelsea: Everton (H), Liverpool (H), Newcastle (A), Manchester United (H), and Nottingham Forest (A).

Fulham (H), Bournemouth (A), Tottenham (H), and Manchester United (A) are Aston Villa.

Manchester United (H), Arsenal (H), Aston Villa (H), Manchester City (H), and Leicester (H) are the following:

Fulham: Everton (H), Brentford (H), Manchester City (H), Aston Villa (A), and Everton (H).

Brighton: Wolves (A), Liverpool (H), Tottenham (A), and Newcastle (H).

Brentford: Manchester United (H), Fulham (H), Ipswich (A), Fulham (H), and Wolves (A).

Eight to eleven Premier League teams will travel to Europe next season, depending on how things turn out this year.

Due to England’s performance in Uefa’s coefficient rankings, at least five of those will be in the Champions League, which is higher than the usual four.

Three Premier League teams are allowed to compete in the Europa League.

The FA Cup winners and the team that finishes sixth are likely to take second place.

However, if the cup winners have already secured a place in Europe, they will move on to the next highest-placed team that has not yet qualified for the continent.

A Premier League team will receive one Conference League spot.

Newcastle, the champions of the Carabao Cup, will be in charge of that, but Eddie Howe’s side might change that. Champions League or Europa League qualifying might change that.

That seems likely given that Newcastle currently leads the pack.

Although it is highly unlikely, this could occur.

Arsenal, Manchester United, or Tottenham would need to win the Champions League, and Chelsea would need to take the Conference League title, with all three winners having to finish outside the top six.