The 2024/2025 English Premier League season came to an end on Sunday, May 25, 2025 as all 20 clubs drew the curtains to climax the season in various ways. The already identified relegation- hit clubs (Leicester City, Ipswich Town and Southampton) were of no particular hope in the outcome of their games as any outcome would be considered redundant in their books.

The most imperative aspect of the final day was the ability of some clubs to clinch a spot in the final three places left for a Champions League berth in the upcoming 2025/2026 season after Champions, Liverpool and second-placed Arsenal lead the English continent in Europe, cementing their positions as five other clubs were vying for a spot on the final day of the season.

Amongst the five clubs were former Champions Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest who were all vying for the last three spots for Champions League football next season.

Coming  into the final day of the season, Manchester City were seated third on the log with 68 points, followed by Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa who were on 66 points apiece and on fourth,fifth and sixth positions respectively before Nottingham Forest who were on 65 points and were in the seventh position.

As the games commenced at various game venues simultaneously, it was not vivid for the masses to identify which teams would be making it to next season’s Champions League until the blast of the final whistle from all match venues. Manchester City looked promising in the first half after they struck first in London against Fulham to keep their position more cemented even before the break before Erling Haaland sealed a place in next season’s Champions League for the Citizens as he converted a penalty.

On the other hand, Chelsea struggled to get ahead of seventh-placed Nottingham Forest who were also vying for a place in the Champions League themselves— a win for either sides would propel them to a great position to secure a place in the Champions League next season. However, teams locked horns and tussled throughout the first half before Chelsea previaled with a subtle goal scored by Levi Colwill to easy the tension on the Londoners, taking them through till the end as they emerged victorious at the expense of opponents, Nottingham Forest.

Furthermore, Newcastle were the very fortunate ones to come up top despite their 0-1 loss to Everton as they grabbed a spot in the top five due to losses for Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest. Aston Villa on the final day had to deal with a red card as goalkeeper Emi Martinez was shown the way to the tunnel earlier before the end of the first half, leading them to losing the game 2-0 to 15th placed Manchester United.

In the end, Aston Villa finished the season with 69 points and have qualified for the 2025/2026 UEFA Europa League whilst Nottingham Forest after the loss to Chelsea at home rendered them unable to finish in the top five as they had to settle for the 2025/2026 UEFA Europa Conference League after they finished 7th on 65 points. However, their loss propelled Chelsea and shot them up to the fourth place, finishing the season on 69 points whilst Newcastle cemented a place in the top five with 66 points as 6th-placed Aston Villa but went through on goal difference.

Chelsea after two years of not featuring in Europe’s elite competition, the Champions League, are back in the competition and also, Nottingham Forest will be looking to play a huge role in Europe as it has been 29 years with featuring in Europe.