• Chelsea to get Champions League place if they win trophy
• Reward for fourth place could then be Europa League spot
The possibility of Chelsea winning the Champions League is likely to induce extreme nervousness in the Premier League, according to Alan Pardew.
Should Roberto Di Matteo's team lift Europe's showpiece trophy but end the domestic season fifth or below, fourth position in the Premier League would become a passage to the Europa League rather than the Champions League.
"Chelsea haven't won it yet," said Pardew, who knows that Di Matteo's team may well struggle to retain the 1-0 lead they take to Camp Nou for next week's semi-final second leg against Barcelona. "But it makes it very interesting that third place, doesn't it? If Arsenal and Tottenham get very nervous, that's a good thing."
Pardew's Newcastle United are vying with Chelsea, Tottenham and Arsenal to end the campaign in the top four but know that may no longer be good enough to ensure ties in glamorous cities such as Barcelona, Madrid, Munich and Milan next season. As only four teams from England can compete in the Champions League, the automatic winners' qualification that would go with a Chelsea triumph could lead to only the Premier League's top three making the cut.
This precedent was set after Liverpool's Champions League win in 2005. As they had finished fifth in the Premier League Rafael Benítez's then team were initially excluded from entry to the following season's competition only to be finally offered a special dispensation. After that, though, the rules were immediately tightened to ensure there could be no repeat.
Although it is understood that Tottenham are rather anxious about such a scenario, third-placed Arsenal remain more relaxed in the knowledge that their destiny is in their own hands.
Five points ahead of Spurs and at home to Chelsea on Saturday, Arsène Wenger's team are in a rather happier place than their north London neighbours.
At the end of a campaign in which Tottenham's manager, Harry Redknapp, is near certain to defect to England and luck seems to have deserted them in assorted cups, the feeling at White Hart Lane is that finishing fourth but ending up in the Europa League would "really put the tin lid on things".
In contrast, Pardew – whose side sit level on points with fourth-placed Tottenham and two ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea – can afford to adopt the most light-hearted approach. "I'll choke on my beer if Chelsea win the Champions League and we finish fourth, for sure," he acknowledged. "But the rules are the rules."
If the Europa League represents ignominy to Arsenal and Spurs, it would be a considerable achievement for Newcastle. "I really think we'll achieve something special if we finish fifth or sixth," Pardew said. "Any higher than that would be astounding really but I think we've got a real chance.
"The Champions League is something that really we shouldn't be competing for, but we are, and we are going to go for that as best we can. We are batting well above our level in terms of the teams and the salaries and transfer fees that these other clubs have paid. We shouldn't even be anywhere near them but a couple of the of the other sides have got a bit edgy. We haven't shown any signs of that – and hopefully we won't. What I do know is this European qualification is about as complicated as it gets. We need Carol Vorderman to work it out." Read More
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