How soon can Manchester City secure UEFA Champions League qualification this season?

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City Xtra

·6. Mai 2025

How soon can Manchester City secure UEFA Champions League qualification this season?

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City are continuing their hunt for UEFA Champions League qualification for next season after a largely troublesome campaign.

An exemplary start to the ongoing campaign saw the Etihad Stadium outfit stand as the only unbeaten side in English football by as late as the end of October, only for a sudden increase in injuries hamper Pep Guardiola’s options.

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By the end of December and into the early weeks of 2025, Manchester City found themselves out of the Premier League title race with Liverpool and Arsenal, before being knocked out of the Champions League by Real Madrid in a last-16 play-off tie.

Long-term problems to Oscar Bobb and Rodri had City in a tough place by mid-September, before a host of problems to the team’s defensive line meant the club had to settle for the bare minimum for their own standards this season.

A run of defeats and difficulties to perform to their known high standards meant eyes were then firmly fixated on a top-five finish to grab a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League, with the FA Cup an added opportunity for major silverware.

Manchester City have found a new lease of life in recent weeks and their unbeaten run across competitions now stands at nine matches, with three Premier League outings and an FA Cup final left on the agenda this season.

But how soon could Manchester City secure a place in next season’s UEFA Champions League, and what would need to happen in order for Pep Guardiola and his players to secure that place as soon as this weekend?

Should Manchester City secure victory over Southampton on the south coast, their tally for the campaign would move to 67 points, and with competitors for the top-five positions facing one another, there is a certainty of points being dropped elsewhere.

A win for Pep Guardiola’s side against the already-relegated Saints and a failure to win for Aston Villa against Bournemouth away from home would mean Unai Emery’s side would be unable to catch the four-in-a-row Premier League champions as they sit in fifth.

Should Nottingham Forest lose to Leicester and Chelsea lose to Newcastle, then Manchester City will also be guaranteed a top-five place as Enzo Maresca and his players travel to the City Ground on the final day of the season with a guarantee of dropped points for either side.

Here is the complete run-in for all of the clubs in contention for a top-five finish in the Premier League this season!