Wenger scorns Premier League play-off plan

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger says he is firmly against a proposal to introduce a play-off for the fourth Champions League qualifying berth in the Premier League.

Under the current system, the teams that finish in the top four positions in England’s top flight automatically qualify for a place in Europe’s premier cup competition the following season.

But under a plan discussed by all 20 Premier League clubs in February, the teams finishing in fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh would enter a play-off, with the winner securing the final qualifying spot.

Qualification for the Champions League has been dominated by England’s ‘big four’ of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United in recent years, but Wenger says there is no need for an alternative format.

“I don’t see any reason why we should reconsider that,” he said on Tuesday, on the eve of his side’s Champions League last-16 first leg clash with Porto here.

“Why shouldn’t the bottom seven teams play each other not to go down? It means you have to start the championship again.

“It’s down to where you finish. You have to accept that the best four are in the Champions League. This year there’s a massive fight, nobody’s guaranteed to be in the top four. You can drop points anywhere and the gaps between teams are getting shorter and shorter.”

Everton coach David Moyes, whose side have finished in the top seven in five of the last seven campaigns, has already expressed cautious enthusiasm for the idea.

“I always think your league position is judged over all the games and where you finish is where you finish, so to give it to a team that finishes three or four places down the table could be a little bit unfair,” he said.

“Nevertheless, the Championship play-offs for promotion into the Premier League have worked very well so it might be something worth looking at.”

Any change to the current qualifying format would require the agreement of at least 14 of the 20 clubs in the Premier League, who will reconvene to examine the proposal in April.