West Ham United's prospects of playing in Europe next season will be determined by the result of this afternoon's FA Cup Final.
Should favourites Manchester United win the Cup at Wembley this afternoon, as expected, West Ham will enter the Europa League in the play-off rounds. However a Crystal Palace win will end any hopes the Hammers have of qualifying for the competition for a second successive season.Last year the Hammers qualified for the earliest rounds of the competition by virtue of winning a place via the Fair Play table - which ceased to exist thereafter.
And having been overtaken by Southampton on the final day of the Premier League season, despite having spent the majority of the 2015/16 campaign in the top six, the Hammers are left needing a favour from Louis Van Gaal's side.
Of course, West Ham should have beaten Manchester United in the quarter finals at Old Trafford - but Martin Atkinson's decision to allow Anthony Martial's 83rd minute equaliser to stand, despite Darren Randolph being pushed into his goal by Bastian Schweinsteiger took the tie to a replay which the Reds won 2-1.
Meanwhile Alan Pardew - who led West Ham to the Final in Cardiff exactly ten years ago - believes his latest underdogs can go one further this year.
"Our fans want to go to Wembley and win," he said. "We want to win, we are not going there for runners-up. If we get a little bit of luck, I think we can win it."
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