Premier League finale: Arsenal, relegation, Champions League, Salah and Pep

Arsenal may have won the title, but the Premier League story is far from over with European spots and survival in play. The Premier League season reaches its crescendo on Sunday with all 10 matches kicking off simultaneously in a final act packed with jeopardy at the bottom end of the table and nearer the top in a European race tangled in permutations. The title has already been decided and four Champions League places have gone to league winners Arsenal, Manchester City, Manchester United and Aston Villa. So attention now shifts to the final European berths – and a relegation scrap few would have predicted when the season kicked off. There is also a good number of big-name farewells. Al Jazeera Sport looks at the five biggest talking points on the final day. When will Arsenal lift the Premier League trophy? Arsenal’s first Premier League title in 22 years will result in a trophy lift after the game at Crystal Palace on Sunday. The Gunners’ victory was confirmed on Tuesday when Manchester City failed to win at Bournemouth – a result that would have kept the title in the balance on the final day. Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta admitted ahead of the trip to Palace that he did not even watch City’s match, instead opting to set up a barbeque in his garden for his family. His son, Gabriel, part of the Arsenal youth set-up, relayed news of the team’s first title since 2004. “I was supposed to be at Colney (the training ground), watching the game with the boys and certain staff because that’s what they wanted – but I couldn’t,” Arteta said. “I think 20 minutes later, before the game, I had to leave. I couldn’t bring the energy that I wanted, and ultimately it was their moment as well to watch it together, to be themselves and just see what the outcome would be. “My oldest son opened the garden door, he started to run towards me, he started to cry, he gave me a hug and said: ‘We are champions, daddy’.” Arteta added that winning the trophy after si and-a-half years at the helm was “one of the best feelings that I have ever had”. An emotion that will be amplified when the trophy is eventually lifted at Selhurst Park, and elevated even further should his side beat Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final in Budapest on May 30. “We’re going to prepare for that game with the intention to win and write a new story in the club’s history,” said Arteta. Who can be relegated on the final day of the Premier League? The drama is stark and simple at the bottom: one of the two London clubs will go down – Tottenham Hotspur or West Ham. Spurs are in the better position, 17th on 38 points, two ahead of West Ham who are 18th and in the third relegation spot. Only one combination of results sends Spurs down: defeat at home to Everton plus a victory for West Ham who host Leeds. “When you fight for the relegation, you have to stay inside of the league until the last minute of the last game of the season,” Spurs manager Roberto de Zerbi said. “We have to stay alive. It is a big day for us. “The most important is to keep the dignity, to keep the pride, to go on holiday like this (head up) and not like this (head down).” Victory for West Ham is essential and even that may not suffice, with their inferior goal difference leaving them reliant on help from Everton in north London. Which Premier League clubs can qualify for Europe? The other major storyline is the battle for the final one or two Champions League places. Liverpool are in pole position as they host Brentford, knowing a point will be enough to secure fifth. Bournemouth, who clinched some form of European qualification with their 1-1 draw against Man City on Tuesday, are three points back, but well behind Liverpool in goal difference. Bournemouth’s surge has been one of the stories of the season. They arrive at Nottingham Forest’s City Ground on a 17-game unbeaten run, their consistency propelling them into sixth and firmly into the European picture. The stakes may extend beyond a single Champions League slot. Aston Villa’s Europa League triumph on Wednesday has created the possibility of a sixth English entrant into next season’s competition, but only if Villa finish fifth in the league. That would require a Liverpool win in what will be talisman Mohamed Salah’s final appearance as a Red at Anfield, and a Villa loss at City, which is expected to be an emotional farewell to manager Pep Guardiola after a trophy-laden decade with the club. If Villa finish fourth, the extended route closes and sixth drops into the Europa League, the continent’s second-most prestigious club competition. Brighton & Hove Albion, who host Manchester United, remain the most realistic side capable of breaking into sixth – they are three points behind Bournemouth in seventh – while a broader group, including Chelsea, Brentford and Sunderland, are chasing Europa League and Conference League spots in a congested mid-table fight. Will Salah have a Premier League farewell for Liverpool? Mohamed S