During the reorganization of the Premier League standings, Manchester United received a point deduction advantage over Spurs and Aston Villa

Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, and Aston Villa are all trying to make it into the Champions League. The table has been changed because Everton asked to have points taken away.

This season, Manchester United is in a three-way tie for a spot in the Champions League. March is going to be a very important month for deciding who will play in UEFA’s top club competition, so Erik ten Hag and his players are under a lot of pressure.

This week, the United manager has already had to deal with talk about his future. There was news in the Manchester Evening News that new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe is still not sure that the Dutchman is the right person to lead the team forward.

Ten Hag really needs to have a good end to the season. That he didn’t finish in the top five might not be enough to keep him on the job, since INEOS is looking at other management choices. But Ten Hag might get a huge help in his quest to make the Champions League from somewhere you wouldn’t expect.

Both Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur are in the running to beat United to a spot in the league next season. Villa, led by Unai Emery, are eight points ahead of United in the top five, and a fifth-place finish is expected to be enough to get them into the Champions League this season. United is three points behind Spurs, but Spurs have played one less game. The race is heating up as Spurs prepare to visit Villa Park on March 10.

There’s more, though. The Premier League’s recent move to change how points are taken away could also have an effect. Everton lost 10 points last year because they broke the Profitability and Sustainability Rules. The club didn’t like the choice, so they tried to change it. Everyone was ready for what to happen.

This past Monday, a separate appeals board said that Everton would lose less points than first thought. It will only be six instead of ten.

Everton FC appealed the punishment given to it for nine reasons, all of which had to do with the punishment itself and not with the fact that the club accepted it had broken the rules. On two of those nine reasons, the Appeal Board agreed, and the original points deduction of 10 was changed to six. The new punishment starts right away, and the Premier League table will be changed today to reflect this.

What does that mean for the Champions League spots? After the most recent games, Nottingham Forest are now in seventeenth place. They are no longer in 15th place; Everton has moved ahead of them and Brentford. Luton was only one point behind Everton in the table before. But now that Sean Dyche’s team is five points ahead, Luton will be even more eager to get every point they can.