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I don't see a world where any of the top teams would try to lose PL games to avoid playing in Conference League. If players or, worse, the club was caught doing that they'd be banned for years and the club would most likely be banned from European football for years as well.

Right. I mixed up the maximum number of teams in Europe (9) with the chance of qualifying through 8th place but you are correct that it is impossible to qualify through 8th place unless winning a cup (domestic or European)

I think there are multiple ways that would make 8th enough to qualify... though not sure exact which those ways are. Most likely is that Brighton won't finish top 7 but if that happens there's several candidates who could miss out. Chelsea perhaps the most likely one, but I don't trust Spurs...