THE Cherries reached Europe for the first time in their history last night – but which competition will they play in next season, and what is still to play for?
Well, Bournemouth are guaranteed to be in the Europa League at worst, the second tier European competition, after the point against City confirmed a top seven place at the least.
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Only Brighton can catch the Cherries of the teams below them, and that would require the Seagulls to beat Manchester United and for Bournemouth to lose to Nottingham Forest on the final day.
Heading to Forest, there is plenty for Andoni Iraola’s side still to play for.
Yesterday’s result equalled their best ever points tally in the Premier League with 56, so a draw or win would surpass that. They have already guaranteed their best-ever finish in the top flight and the English football pyramid with a seventh or better finish.
They could still finish fifth, though, and secure Champions League football through the league.
A win would put them level on points with Liverpool, should the Reds lose to Brentford, but for Bournemouth to go above them, there would need to be a six-goal goal difference swing on Sunday afternoon.
Perhaps a more realistic scenario that would see the Cherries play in Europe’s premier competition would come through a sixth-placed finish.
Should Bournemouth finish there and Aston Villa win tonight’s Europa League against Freiburg, then they would qualify for the Champions League through that.
They have already confirmed their place in that competition through their league finish, but, if they were to finish exactly fifth, that would see Champions League move down to sixth as well.
This is as European competition winner places are applied before the European performance spot by UEFA – so, Villa winning the Europa League and finishing fifth would see that place get the competition winner’s place, and the performance spot would go to sixth.
If Villa finish fourth, then the performance spot would be fifth and Europa League sixth.
Either way, there is still plenty to play for for the Cherries on Sunday in Nottingham – and the team will want to send Andoni Iraola off from the club on a real high.
