At 5 o'clock in the morning today, with Tottenham Hotspur not beating Manchester City, the suspense of this season's Premier League battle for four ended early, and Villa became the last Premier League team to qualify for next season's Champions League after Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool, which is also the third time in Villa's history to qualify for the Champions League, the last time it was back in the 1982-83 season. As manager, Unai Emery led the team back to the Champions League and ushered in a new chapter.
This season, Villa, as the number one dark horse, once led the standings, but gradually fell out of the top three due to the overall strength and squad thickness, but fortunately, the team has been in fourth place for a long time, and is determined to participate in the Champions League next season.
In the 37th round of the Premier League that ended the day before, Villa drew 3-3 at home to Liverpool, with one more round to get rid of fifth-ranked Tottenham Hotspur by 5 points, as well as 8 more goal difference, very close to advancing to next season's Champions League.
For Tottenham, if they want to surpass Villa in the last minute to rank fourth, they must win Manchester City and Sheffield United in a row, and they must hope that Villa will lose to Crystal Palace in the final game.
So far, Villa have caught the last train of the Premier League team to qualify for next season's Champions League.
This is Villa's return to the Champions League after 41 years, with the last appearance coming in the 1982-83 season, when they were the defending champions and knocked out of Serie A by Juventus in the quarter-finals. It is worth mentioning that the 1981-82 season was Villa's first appearance in the Champions League, and they miraculously won the title.
Villa's return to the Champions League is inseparable from the management of manager Unai Emery, who took over last season with just 12 points from 13 league games, sitting 17th in the Premier League and battling relegation.
In the end, Unai Emery led the team to a seventh-place finish, returning to Europe after 15 years, and finally broke into the last four of the Europa League, and the only Premier League team to qualify for the last four of European competition this season.
Last month, Villa officially announced that they had renewed Emery's contract until 2027, which is conducive to leading the team to the Champions League next season to achieve good results.