Aston Villa move one step closer to mega £175m windfall after Mauricio Pochettino favour

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Results on Thursday night went for and against Aston Villa as they had a Premier League boost amid their European disappointment

Aston Villa received a huge boost to their Champions League hopes on Thursday night after Tottenham Hotspur were beaten 2-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. As Villa were enduring a disappointing 4-2 loss to Olympiacos in the Europa Conference League semi-final, their top-four rivals were beaten by their London neighbours thanks to goals in each half from Trevoh Chalobah and Nicolas Jackson.

Fifth-placed Spurs are the only team able to chase down Villa for the Premier League's final Champions League spot with Liverpool guaranteed to finish inside the top four following Thursday's result. Tottenham can still gain a maximum of 72 points as they have four games remaining to Villa's three. It would mean Unai Emery's side need at least six points to guarantee their place in the Champions League - but only if Spurs, who have lost their last three games, pick up maximum points from now until the end of the season.

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Villa travel to Brighton and Hove Albion and Crystal Palace with a home game against Liverpool sandwiched in-between in their final three league outings. Spurs travel to Anfield this weekend before back-to-back home games against Burnley and Manchester City. They will end the season at already-relegated Sheffield United.

According to statistic experts at Opta, Villa now have a 94.6 per cent of finishing fourth based on previous results and current form. A fourth-placed finish would land the club a huge chunk in prize money from the Premier League, as well as from UEFA. Reaching the Champions League group stage was worth £13.37m in the 2023-24 season, with that figure likely to increase for 2024-25 with a new format.

A fourth-placed finish will also equate to at least £162m in Premier League prize money based on a merit payment for finishing fourth, along with an equal share payment and facility fees for hosting TV games. The £162m is based on last season's figure and therefore on the low side of the estimate with merit and equal share payments likely to increase while Villa are set to receive 20 sets of facility fees. They have appeared on TV 18 times this season, with their games against Brighton and Liverpool also selected for broadcast.

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