Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur will be desperate to qualify for the Champions League, having missed out last season
Xabi Alonso, Manager of Chelsea, gestures during the Premier League 2026/27 match between Fulham and Chelsea FC at Craven Cottage on August 24, 2026 in London, England
Xabi Alonso during Chelsea's clash against Fulham(Image: Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
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Gordon Strachan reckons Chelsea don't stand a chance in the race for qualification to the Champions League. Last season, the Blues failed to qualify for either of UEFA's three club competitions, finishing 10th in the Premier League.
Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Aston Villa claimed first, second, third, and fourth, respectively, earning a spot in Europe's top-flight competition. With England finishing in the top two of the UEFA coefficient table, which measures how clubs from each nation perform on the European stage throughout the campaign, the Premier League was granted an extra place in the Champions League.
The 'European Performance Spot' goes to the next-best-ranked club in the relevant domestic league, so, having finished fifth, it was given to Liverpool. Bournemouth and Sunderland qualified for the Europa League from sixth and seventh, while Crystal Palace were awarded a place for winning the Conference League.
Brighton placed eighth, squeezing into UEFA's third-tier club competition. This season, Strachan reckons the Seagulls will give Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur a run for their money in the race for Champions League qualification, suggesting that Chelsea could miss out on European football entirely.
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Predicting the Premier League table in an interview with Betway, the former Manchester United midfielder said: "Arsenal are the favourites and we’re still looking at Man City asking whether they can get over Pep Guardiola.
"Is it going to be like when Sir Alex Ferguson left Man Utd? We all saw what happened there, so that’s the huge problem when you have a dynasty like that. Arsenal’s recruitment has also been tremendous.
"But for Manchester United, I see them being in the top three. If they add another two midfield players, I would put them down as top-three material."
On the race for fifth place, Strachan omitted Chelsea from the running. The 69-year-old said: "It’ll be the usual suspects, so I’ve got Liverpool, Man Utd, Man City and Arsenal, so that’s four.
"But outside of that, I might even say Brighton could get in the top five because they’re settled with what they’re doing and have a great manager. Aston Villa’s in there as well, they can definitely threaten to be top three.
"But then the group behind that, with Brighton as my outside bet for top five. Tottenham will also be there because they have to be up there this time, especially with the money they’ve spent.
"Spurs took a chance because when you go early to get transfers done, you have to pay top whack on players."
On whether Tottenham could be sucked into a relegation battle for a third successive season, Strachan likened Roberto De Zerbi to Sir Alex Ferguson. The Scot said: "I can’t see Spurs doing that again, I really can’t.
"Not after spending that type of money, and not with the manager they’ve got, who’s permanently angry – which is good. It’s like Sir Alex, he was permanently angry, as long as he’s got that drive to scare people into winning games of football and not getting beaten.
"When I played with Sir Alex, it was not the fact that you had to win; you were just so scared of getting beaten. So I think that’s what De Zerbi does to these teams a little bit."
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