Battle for top five going to the wire

NOTTINGHAM Forest know the end is in sight as they aim to secure their place on the grandest of stages for next season.

- By SARAH CLAPSON

The race for Champions League qualification has an intriguing added dimension this term with the Premier League having been granted a fifth place.

With Arsenal having reached the last-four in Europe's premier club competition and Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur among the Europa League semi-finalists, as many as seven English clubs could rub shoulders with the continent's elite in 2025-26.

Nuno Espirito Santo's men have five games remaining to try to ensure they are among that group.

Reds writer Sarah Clapson has taken a look at the battle for fifth place and what it might take to claim the lucrative prize it would secure:

As it stands

Chelsea are currently the team in possession of fifth spot, on 60 points with four games remaining.

The Blues, who finished fifth with 65 points in 1999-00 and again with 70 in 2017-18, are a point worse off than Manchester City in fourth and two behind third-placed Newcastle United, although they are ahead of Forest - who have a game in hand - only on goal difference with Aston Villa three points adrift.