BURNLEY appear to have held off the challenge from Wigan and West Ham as they compete for a place in Europe via the fair play league.

The latest monthly Premier League fair play table was published yesterday, taking into account all fixtures up to including the Clarets’ defeat to Liverpool, and it now seems almost certain that Burnley will effectively finish second to Fulham.

The Clarets have slipped a place to seventh in the table but Arsenal, Tottenham, Chelsea, Manchester United and Aston Villa have already qualified for Europe via their performances on the pitch.

Fulham are third and will take the fair play place in the Europa League if they lose this season’s final against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday.

They have edged further clear of Burnley to now hold a seemingly unassailable advantage in the race.

The Clarets have slipped back towards Wigan, Wolves and West Ham but not far enough to give the trio a chance of overhauling them before the end of the season.

The final table is expected to be published at the end of next week but England could still lose their fair play place altogether if they slip out of the top three in the European standings.

Premier League fair play rankings (previous month’s ranking in brackets): 1 Arsenal 8.58 (8.59), 2 Tottenham 8.52 (8.48), 3 Fulham 8.42 (8.43), 4 Chelsea 8.39 (8.39), 5 Man Utd 8.39 (8.41), 6 Aston Villa 8.24 (8.23), 7 Burnley 8.22 (8.24), 8 Man City 8.19 (8.15), 9 Wigan 8.13 (8.10), 10 Wolves 8.13 (8.09), 11 West Ham 8.13 (8.14).