Opta experts predict Premier League top five - here's where Newcastle United finish after Aston Villa loss

The race for Champions League qualification is wide open as the 2024-25 Premier League season enters its final month.

Only two points separate Newcastle United in third and Aston Villa in seventh, with Manchester City, Chelsea and Nottingham Forest also in the mix.

Newcastle’s six-match winning run came to a crashing end with a 4-1 defeat at Villa Park on Saturday and Forest could climb above the Magpies if they beat Tottenham Hotspur on Monday night.

Man City leapfrogged Forest into fourth after their 2-0 win at Everton and closed the gap on Newcastle to one point. Meanwhile, Chelsea also moved above Forest and one point behind Eddie Howe’s side after coming from 1-0 down to beat Fulham 2-1.

Chelsea, Forest and Aston Villa are all locked on 57 points, separated only by goal difference.

With Liverpool one victory away from sealing the Premier League title and Arsenal all-but confirmed as runners up, which three teams will finish inside the top five and qualify for next season’s Champions League?

In a world where statistics dominate the football agenda, British gurus Opta emerged as the leading stat geeks in an increasingly crowded field. An official Premier League partnership - as well as the internet explosion - saw them become a trusted source for everything you never needed to know about the beautiful game.

Now an Opta-powered supercomputer has predicted the outcome of the top five battle:

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