So Chelsea have something to play for in their final Premier League game of the season after all.A 2-1 victory over Tottenham — their first in the top division since March 4 — has kept their chances of playing in Europe alive. But would they be better off not qualifying? It is certainly worthy of debate.Chelsea are currently eighth. Should they finish there, it would put them in the Conference League, a competition they won last year. There are various permutations about what could happen on Sunday but to avoid causing anyone a headache, a win at Sunderland should be good enough to ensure Chelsea finish eighth at the very least (Brentford are also on 52 points but go to Liverpool with an inferior goal difference by four).Should Brighton & Hove Albion also fail to defeat Manchester United at home, then Chelsea will climb to seventh and take a Europa League spot instead. Lose and they be out of contention because Sunderland will leapfrog them.Chelsea’s incoming manager Xabi Alonso will inherit the ramifications of whatever takes place. What would he or anyone connected to Chelsea prefer? The Athletic debates the pros and cons.ForChance to add another European trophyChelsea will instantly be the strong favourites for the Conference League and very fancied for the Europa League, too, if they get into that.The club may have just lost their seventh domestic cup final in a row, but their European record is very good. They have two Champions Leagues, two Europa Leagues, two Super Cups, two Cup Winners’ Cups and one Conference League. UEFA gave them a special award last August for being the first club to claim the full set of their trophies in the men’s game.Both tournaments will provide Alonso a great opportunity to claim silverware in his first campaign in charge at Stamford Bridge. A useful way to get fans, players and critics onside. It will also perhaps make amends for one of his biggest personal disappointments since going into management as his Bayer Leverkusen team suffered their only defeat in 2023-24 in the Europa League final against Atalanta.Europe would give Xabi Alonso another chance of winning an early trophy (Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)Another way of qualifying for EuropeThe winners of the Conference League go into the Europa League the following season (as long as that team have not qualified for the Champions League via the league). An even more appealing award is lifting the Europa League trophy because that automatically puts you into the Champions League. It’s a nice insurance policy if league form falters.Keeps players happyIt is much more difficult to give the whole squad lots of game time if Chelsea are competing in just three competitions. European football provides an opportunity to rotate and that includes looking at giving academy talent a chance to get some experience.Nine homegrown teenagers got to feature under head coach Enzo Maresca last term in the Conference League. Alonso can also use more fixtures to work on tactical improvements and adjustments while still expecting to win.Interrupt bad runsIt can be very easy to go on bad set of results in the Premier League. Chelsea lost six straight league games recently to see that.Being able to secure comfortable wins in Europe can kill negative momentum and keep the team, as well as individuals, confident in what they are doing. It was certainly useful for Maresca last season.Avoiding reputational damageA club with Chelsea’s record, and resources, should be in Europe. Given they went into this season with qualifying for the Champions League as a minimum target, not being good enough for all three is a bad look.Chelsea also failed to book a spot in the first season of the Todd Boehly-Clearlake consortium in 2022-23. They followed that setback by playing in the Conference League (2024-25) and Champions League (2025-26) in the last two seasons. That makes it a 50 per cent success rate.The hierarchy will want that to go up, not down. It sends a more upbeat message that the ‘project’ is still on the right path, albeit relatively compared to standards set under previous owner Roman Abramovich.AgainstBusy schedule/travelPlaying in Europe means more fixtures and the dreaded Thursday-Sunday grind that few head coaches or managers like to have in the Premier League.There is also a lot of air miles involved, which can have a negative impact. Even with the possibility of making mass changes to the line-up to share the workload, it can still increase feelings of fatigue, mentally and physically.Players could do with a breakWith Chelsea playing in the FIFA Club World Cup last summer and many of their players involved in the World Cup coming up, there are some key individuals who have been playing a lot of football with very little respite for years, including the likes of Cole Palmer, Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo.Enzo Fernandez has played a huge amount of football (Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)Fatigue has to be one of the factors as to why Chelsea’s form in the second half of this season dropped significantly. Having a full week between games on regular occasions is clearly going to keep them fresh. You only have to see how Manchester United, who were not in European competition this season as well as being knocked out of both domestic cups in their first game, have benefited.With one fixture a week to concentrate on since early January, United have taken advantage to secure third spot in the table.Little credit for winningDue to spending well in excess of £1billion on signings over the last four years, few outside of Stamford Bridge will lavish Chelsea with praise or see it as a notable achievement if they win one of Europe’s lesser trophies.When the gulf in resources is this large, Chelsea have little to win and an awful lot to lose. Certainly appearing in the Conference League again will be largely ignored as it was so easy for them to dominate the competition in 2024-25. They won every single game from the group phase onwards, despite Maresca picking a lot of fringe players.Alonso gets more time to work on things in trainingHaving decent gaps between fixtures would be fantastic for Alonso to get his message across.Predecessor Antonio Conte used it to good effect in his first year at the helm. He is the last Chelsea manager to win a Premier League in 2016-17, when the club were not distracted by European football.Antonio Conte won the Premier League when Chelsea were out of Europe in 2016-17 (Michael Regan/Getty Images)Financial reward is minimalChelsea earned only around €22m (£15m) for winning the Conference League in 2025. Some reports suggest Aston Villa will have made about £36m if they triumph in tonight’s Europa League final. Is having some income for participating better than nothing? Maybe, but if playing in it has a detrimental impact on the league results, there could be a big price to pay.So if you were in Alonso’s position what would you choose? For me, despite all the potential negatives, Chelsea should do their utmost to beat Sunderland and give Alonso, as well as the club’s fanbase, another European adventure to look forward to.