Footiehound

Premier League Cup Standings, The Last Game: What’s to Play For?

• Ken Anucha
• May 21, 2025May 21, 2025

The Last Game of the Premier League Season: Cup Standings, Winners and Losers

It’s fair to say this season’s top flight really has been like no other. For the first time in the Premier League’s history, the three promoted sides have gone back down in consecutive terms, both Tottenham and Manchester United may not even hit the magical 40 point mark, and Nottingham Forest could end up playing Champions League football.

While Liverpool have secured the title and Ipswich, Leicester and Southampton have already had their Championship status confirmed for 2025/26, there’s still plenty to tune in for on Sunday, and there will be plenty of twists and turns along the way.

So, ahead of the division’s last day of term, the football expert Kate Richardson takes a look at what’s been wrapped up, the stories of the season and more…

The Premier League title race: It’s all wrapped up

Liverpool led the way for much of the schedule and got the title wrapped up at the end of April, securing their record-equalling 20th title.

It’s a remarkable achievement, with manager Arne Slot only coming in during the summer to replace Jurgen Klopp and doing very little business in the transfer window. They hit the ground running though and while Arsenal were on their tail for many months, Mikel Arteta’s men trailed off when it mattered most and will have to settle for second.

Premier League cup 2025 standings

Position	Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	GF	GA	GD	Points
1	Liverpool	37	25	8	4	85	40	+45	83
2	Arsenal	37	19	14	4	67	33	+34	71
3	Manchester City	37	20	8	9	70	44	+26	68
4	Newcastle United	37	20	6	11	68	46	+22	66
5	Chelsea	37	19	9	9	63	43	+20	66
6	Aston Villa	37	19	9	9	58	49	+9	66
7	Nottingham Forest	37	19	8	10	59	46	+13	65
8	Brighton & Hove Albion	37	15	13	9	58	54	+4	58
9	Brentford	37	16	7	14	55	46	+9	55
10	Fulham	37	15	9	13	50	48	+2	54
11	Bournemouth	37	14	9	14	49	52	-3	51
12	Manchester United	37	13	10	14	53	55	-2	49
13	Crystal Palace	37	12	11	14	47	50	-3	47
14	West Ham United	37	11	12	14	45	53	-8	45
15	Wolverhampton Wanderers	37	11	10	16	42	56	-14	43
16	Everton	37	10	11	16	39	57	-18	41
17	Tottenham Hotspur	37	9	13	15	44	60	-16	40
18	Leicester City	37	7	9	21	35	65	-30	30
19	Ipswich Town	37	6	10	21	33	68	-35	28
20	Southampton	37	5	8	24	30	70	-40	23

The race for the European slots

Where it’s been a little more interesting is the race for the European slots. Crystal Palace have assured themselves a place in the Europa League thanks to their FA Cup victory, while Newcastle have guaranteed themselves a Conference League play-off spot through their Carabao Cup win. However, they could guarantee either Champions League or Europa League football through finishing in the top six. Should that happen, seventh will take the Conference League play-off. 

In fact, eighth could even finish with a European spot as it stands. However, it would require Chelsea to win the Conference League against Real Betis, and then finish seventh, while Newcastle would also need to finish in the top six. That could see Brentford, Brighton or Fulham take an additional spot.

The top five will gain a Champions League spot, while either Tottenham Hotspur or Manchester United will also qualify by winning the Europa League. Sixth place will then receive a Europa League place.

Only Liverpool and Arsenal have secured Champions League qualification, the remaining three spots being played out for by those in third to seventh. Sixth will then take the Europa League and seventh Conference League.

Fans all over the world are having their say in what will be a thrilling final day. That’s particularly the case in the likes of Abu Dhabi and the rest of the UAE, where millions will be tuning in. The oddsmakers are having real trouble calling it, and there’s plenty of good value to be had if you’re looking to place wagers in the UAE market at the moment. At the moment, they have Manchester City, Newcastle and Chelsea completing the top five. Naturally, given the former’s Abu Dhabi United Group ownership, it’ll be likely Blues fans will be keen to see their side leap into second – not a terrible result given Guardiola’s troubles across the season. 

Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are the only other two sides that can make the top five, and it wouldn’t be a complete surprise if many UAE sports lovers put an outside bet on Villa especially. They face a Manchester United team who have played in a final midweek, which could find them leggy and give the Midlands club the chance to pounce on any slip-ups from those above them. 

Premier League leading scorers

Liverpool’s Mo Salah will take the leading scorer gong after his most impressive spell in a red shirt. Alexander Isak and Erling Haaland are most likely to complete the top three in what has been a great year for Newcastle’s Swedish striker and a rather poor one for Manchester City’s Norwegian.

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mohamed Salah	Liverpool	28
2	Alexander Isak	Newcastle United	23
3	Erling Haaland	Manchester City	21
4	Chris Wood	Nottingham Forest	20
5	Bryan Mbeumo	Brentford	19
6	Yoane Wissa	Brentford	19
7	Ollie Watkins	Aston Villa	16
8	Matheus Cunha	Wolverhampton Wanderers	15
9	Cole Palmer	Chelsea	15
10	Jean-Philippe Mateta	Crystal Palace	14

The Tales of the Premier League season

Liverpool secure record-matching title

As we’ve mentioned, Liverpool have equalled Manchester United’s record of 20 league titles in what was a brilliant first term for Arne Slot in his first year.

Not only did they remain consistent throughout, but they were also able to navigate various rumours surrounding key players, notably Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold. In what can be seen as another victory, the former two have signed new contracts with the club, with the only player leaving on a free being Trent, most likely to Real Madrid.

Salah said when signing his extension: “I signed here because I believe we can win a lot of big trophies together. Keep supporting us and we’ll give it our best, and hopefully in the future we’re going to win more trophies.” Which perhaps bodes well for next year.

Forest earn European football for 25/26

While Slot’s achievements can’t be underestimated, it’s perhaps Nuno Espirito Santo’s run with Nottingham Forest that is the most sensational story of this year’s Premier League.

Until recently Forest were comfortably in the Champions League places, and while they’ve dropped to seventh ahead of the last game, they’ve confirmed European football and could still end up in the top five. It’s been a remarkable rise after just staying up last term and one that even the late, great Brian Clough would be proud of.

For the fans, and indeed the players, an adventure to remember awaits.

A season to forget for three big hitters

Finally, in the league, it’s been one to forget for a number of the traditional “big six”. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have struggled without star man Rodri. They’ve looked a shell of themselves and it seems like they’re very much a team in transition. However, third place is still a possibility and securing Champions League football would make it slightly easier to stomach for fans at the Etihad.

That’s actually a similar story for Spurs and Manchester United fans. Despite disastrous form in the Premier League, they face off in the Europa League Final, which would not only secure silverware but a Champions League place.

While that’ll soften the problems they have, real shake-ups are needed in the summer, particularly given that both sides could feasibly finish with under 40 points and in 16th and 17th, just outside the relegation zone. How do you solve such problems? One summer certainly isn’t going to transform them into top six teams once again…

What can we expect on Sunday?

There’s going to be a lot to talk about as the 90 minutes play out on Sunday and in the race for the Champions League there will especially be plenty of twists and turns. One things for sure, in the weeks that follow there will be thorough investigations, celebrations and plenty of transfer activity to set up what will no doubt be a thrilling 2025/26 come August.