Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea's thrilling race for fourth will have more than just financial consequences

The Gunners took advantage of Chelsea slipping up to move back into the top four after handing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer his first loss in charge of United

For Arsenal it was the relief from the European hangover that had enveloped Friday and Saturday. For Manchester United it was a reminder that not every big night under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s guidance is going to end up in a party plane back from Paris.

For the Premier League, the race for fourth is now one of the few storylines that will go down to the end of the season and, likely, its dying minutes. If the games in this upcoming mini-league within a league are as entertaining as Sunday afternoon’s wonderfully clumsy affair at the Emirates, the business end of the season will certainly be worth watching.

Arsenal’s win takes them back above Manchester United and into fourth place. Chelsea have a game in hand, against Brighton, and sit three points behind Arsenal and one adrift of United in the quest for that final Champions League place.

It is tight, but for two teams the fallout of coming short will be significant.

Gone are the days of the Champions League money itself being a world-changing cash injection but for their bigger financial picture this is significant for these three clubs. The extra prize money and television revenue are welcome of course but expanded commercial opportunities, bigger sponsorships, the ability to attract better players and never having to play at 5.55pm on a Thursday night all have benefits far beyond a few million pounds for reaching the Champions League round-of-16 rather than the Europa League semi-final.

All three of these clubs have shown in recent years that they can survive a season or two outside Uefa’s top competition but for each of them clubs there are also clear and obvious immediate consequences of missing out.

Arsenal’s small pot for transfers is not going to get bigger if Unai Emery is guiding them into another Europa League campaign, and the focus will be on the new sporting director – very likely to be Monchi – to find bargains rather than spend freely if the Champions League proves out of reach this year.

Chelsea will find it almost impossible to convince Eden Hazard to stay if they are not playing Champions League football next season.

They may also lose Callum Hudson-Odoi, and nobody knows what the future holds with regards to the vacant technical director position, a possible vacancy in the manager’s seat should things go south and, most importantly, Roman Abramovich’s inability to return to Britain.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyag celebrates putting Arsenal 2-0 ahead in their win over Manchester United (AFP/Getty ) (AFP/Getty)

Manchester United, curiously, erased one of their biggest question marks in midweek and thus could probably survive a season outside the top four.

While it is slightly peculiar that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is getting so much praise for a comeback when he also presided over the first-leg defeat that left United in a hole, it would also be very difficult to ignore the squad pleading for him to be permanently appointed and the significantly improved atmosphere around the club.

Eden Hazard scored an injury-time equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw against Wolves (AP)

Without that night at the Parc des Princes, which side Man United finish of the imaginary line between fourth place and fifth might have decided the Norwegian’s future. Now it’s more likely to be simply a tie-breaker in whether somebody like Joao Felix chooses to sign for United or Real Madrid.

What we do know is that a couple of points or possibly even goal difference will drastically change how these clubs’ respective realities are perceived, and while missing out wouldn’t be the financial apocalypse for any of them, there are enough downsides to coming up short that it would make a future return to the Champions League an uphill struggle.