Aston Villa have already secured European football for next season
Aston Villa players after losing to Crystal Palace
After defeating Aston Villa in the FA Cup semi-finals, Crystal Palace are aiming to win the first major trophy in their history on Saturday.
Their opponents, Manchester City, reached the final after overcoming Nottingham Forest at Wembley - a day after Villa were comfortably beaten 3-0 by the Eagles.
Oliver Glasner’s side have extra motivation to win the FA Cup, as doing so would secure them a place in European competition.
FA Cup winners automatically qualify for the league phase of the UEFA Europa League.
That was the case last season when Manchester United defeated City at Wembley. Despite finishing eighth in the Premier League, United are now preparing for a Europa League final thanks in part to that FA Cup triumph.
This season is slightly different, as eighth place could also lead to European qualification. England is guaranteed to finish first or second in UEFA's association club coefficient rankings, earning the Premier League an additional European place, known as a "European Performance Spot" (EPS).
As a result, fifth place will now qualify for the Champions League - unlike last season, when Villa had to finish in the top four, ahead of Tottenham, to reach Europe’s top competition.
The good news for Villa is that if City win the FA Cup, their league finish won’t affect Villa’s chances. In that case, fifth place would still be enough for Villa to qualify for the Champions League.
However, if Crystal Palace win the FA Cup, things could get more complicated for Villa.
Villa have already secured European football, but if they finish as low as seventh and Palace lift the cup, then Glasner’s team would take the second Europa League spot, pushing the seventh-placed team into the Europa Conference League.
If City win the FA Cup, then eighth place would qualify for the Conference League, while sixth and seventh would earn Europa League spots.
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