Liverpool and Aston Villa both won in dramatic fashion on Sunday following Manchester United’s dogged win over Chelsea in the race for Champions League qualification from the Premier League
Liverpool and Aston Villa have both taken massive stride towards securing their place in next season’s Champions League after grabbing later winners. Virgil Van Dijk netted Liverpool’s in the 100th minute against Everton in the Merseyside Derby while Tammy Abraham grabbed the deciding goal of a seven-goal thriller.
Just five matches of the 2025/26 campaign remain on the calendar and to guarantee Champions League football for next term, Villa need just three points while Liverpool require nine The latter total may not even be necessary though, with Chelsea continuing to surrender points which has allowed Brentford, Bournemouth, Brighton and Everton – despite their defeat to their neighbours – to narrow the deficit.
It was a frantic opening period at the Hill Dickinson Stadium with a manic spell seeing an Iliman Ndiaye effort chalked off for offside before Mohamed Salah broke the deadlock following Cody Gakpo’s incisive through ball. Beto grabbed an equaliser but Van Dijk nodded home deep into stoppage time which left Slot delighted after completing the double over Everton.
READ MORE: Liverpool suffer huge injury blow as Giorgi Mamardashvili taken off on stretcherREAD MORE: Virgil van Dijk nets 100th-minute winner as Liverpool beat Everton – 5 talking pointsHe said: “We are going to enjoy. My staff, my players and me. There is no difference between us and the fans, we would have loved to have had a better season than we’ve had.
“But for obvious reasons we haven’t, and we saw that today. How many times do you have two goalkeepers injured? That has been our season but we managed to win and that’s the most important thing.”
At Villa Park, Abraham was on target after an Ollie Watkins brace and Morgan Rogers struck put Unai Emery’s side in control. Chris Rigg, Trai Hume and Wilson Isidor were the Sunderland stars on target, but their goals have not impacted the final score line.
Liverpool would have stayed fifth regardless of the outcome following Saturday’s results, with Fulham, Brentford, Brighton and Chelsea all dropping points. The latter suffered a defeat to Manchester United at Stamford Bridge, which inadvertently worked in Liverpool’s favour.
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Villa and Liverpool are also due to meet later this season. That encounter is still some weeks away, however, with attention first turning to matches against Crystal Palace, Manchester United and Chelsea beforehand.
A place among Europe’s elite could even be secured before the Villa showdown, with three consecutive victories enough to guarantee a top-five finish.
The Premier League claimed its fifth Champions League spot through the European Performance Standings when Arsenal defeated Sporting CP in their quarter-final.
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