One of Manchester United, Arsenal, Spurs or Chelsea could have their summer plans disrupted except Manchester City win the FA Cup.
According to the Mirror, FA Cup winners gets automatic qualification to the group stage of Europa League meaning any of the Premier League side who finish in sixth position could start their season as early as July if Manchester City does not win the oldest cup competition in football.
However the chance of that happen is low, given Brighton, Wolves and Watford are the only teams left to challenge the Premier League champions. Pep Guardiola’s team have been drawn against Brighton in the Semi Finals and will be expected to see off the Seagulls.
However, Chris Hughton’s side can take encouragement from Swansea’s performance where they ran the Citizen’s so close before succumbing to an Aguero winner in the Quarter Finals.
Nevertheless,any of the Premier league side that finish sixth can still avoid a summer disruption provided they win any of the European competition they are currently in. Tottenham, Manchester United, Chelsea and Arsenal are all in the quarter finals of the Champions League and Europa League respectively.
However, failure would mean the sixth placed team among these teams would have to rely on Manchester City to win the FA Cup otherwise they face the prospect starting their season as early as July 25, when the qualifying fixtures take place.
All four major clubs have already been booked in for summer pre-season tours, which could be severely disrupted if they have to play a Europa League qualifier. It would be a major blow for whichever club is affected, given overseas tours have become lucrative business for the Premier League big boys in recent years.
Chelsea have already announced they will play a match in July in Japan, plus Tottenham are expected to take part in the International Champions Cup in Singapore then Shanghai.
Arsenal are reportedly going to tour the USA between July 13 and July 26, with Manchester United taking on Perth Glory and Leeds United in Australia on July 13 and July 17 respectively.
All of these plans are at risk of being severely disrupted if they lose out in the fierce top four battle and finish sixth then don’t see rivals Manchester City lift the FA Cup.
Premier League sides all return to action at after the international break at the end of the month