Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and Tottenham risk fixture chaos if Man City don't win FA Cup

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Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham are all at risk of having to start next season on July 25 if Manchester City fail to win the FA Cup.

The quartet are desperate to finish in the top four of the Premier League this season to secure qualification for the Champions League, with the fifth and sixth-placed teams dropping into the Europa League.

However, the stage at which the sixth-placed team will enter the competition next season is dependent on who wins this year’s FA Cup.

Brighton, City, Watford and Wolves are all into the semi-finals and the winners at Wembley on May 18 will go into the group stages of the Europa League in the 2019-20 season.

However if the winners have already secured European football, as should be the case for Manchester City, sixth place in the Premier League would take that group-stage spot instead.

Issues would arise, though, if City did not win the FA Cup as sixth place would instead enter at the second qualifying round of the Europa League.

That spot would usually go to the winners of the Carabao Cup, but as Manchester City won that — beating Chelsea on penalties after extra-time last month — it will go to the sixth-placed team in the Premier League if one of Brighton, Watford or Wolves win the FA Cup.

That would mean Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United or Tottenham could start their season on July 25 if they finish sixth, which is 16 days before the Premier League is scheduled to start on August 10.

They would have to play six matches to make the group stages of the Europa League, which could also disrupt their pre-season tours.

The Arsenal team under Unai Emery are planning to head to the US for a series of games, while Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham will travel to Singapore and Shanghai. Chelsea have already committed to playing a game in Japan in July.

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