It's Sunday crunch time for Villa

As we head into the final week of the Premier League season what a final day we have in the chase for a Champions League place.

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Everything else is decided at the top - Liverpool have won the title by a distance while Arsenal take runners-up spot.

At the bottom Southampton, Ipswich and Leicester are all relegated to the Championship and replaced by Leeds United, Burnley and either Sheffield United or Sunderland who meet in the play-off final.

So, the final-day spotlight is on the race for the remaining Champions League places - and it couldn’t be tighter between Villa, Newcastle United, Chelsea, Manchester City and Nottingham Forest.

Villa head to Manchester United on Sunday knowing they must win to have any realistic chance of qualifying for a place in the Champions League next season unless of course there are some surprising results from the other contenders.

This season Unai Emery’s team set a new club record in the top flight of 32 wins. While it could change to 33 with a win at Old Trafford on the last day.

The icing on the cake would be qualification for the Champions League although goal difference just might be their undoing as they have the worst of all the teams challenging for that fifth Champions League place.

I know rules are rules, but it does seem ludicrous that either Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United will be in the Champions League, depending on who wins tonight’s Europa League Final.

However, Spurs are 17th in the Premier League just above the relegation trapdoor on 38 points. That is a massive 28 points behind Villa, Chelsea and Newcastle. While Manchester United are in 16th place and just a point better off.

That doesn’t sit comfortably with me but, as I said earlier, those were the rules set before the season kicked off.

Having said that I have thought for a long time that Premier League clubs would take a lot more interest in the FA Cup if there was a Champions League place for the winners.