Champions League: Is Premier League on course for fifth spot in next year’s competition?

Here’s what it means going into the knockout play-off rounds.

ENGLAND

England is the only country to still have all teams active – and there are nine of them.

It will be very hard for England to throw it away after bagging 72.50 bonus points from the Champions League final placings.

But nothing should be completely taken for granted, as England seemed destined to get an EPS slot in 2023-24 only to suffer a terrible set of results in the quarter-finals.

England can consolidate its position with results in the knockout play-off rounds. It has three teams active, while only Italy (five) of the major European leagues has more.

Newcastle are well-placed to make the round of 16 of the Champions League after winning 6-1 at Qarabag.

As a picture of how far England is ahead, Portuguese clubs are effectively 12 wins behind, for German sides it is 17 wins. Then for the Italian teams it is 20 victories and for the Spanish clubs 22.

PORTUGAL

Portugal did not seem to really stand a realistic chance of making the top two after Santa Clara were knocked out out of the Conference League in the qualifying rounds.

Still, it moves into the knockouts with four teams active but will need all to go very deep to have any chance.

Only Benfica can add coefficient points in February and they lost the first leg at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League.

Even if Benfica pull off another surprise and knock out the La Liga giants, Portugal is likely to drop down the table. Other leagues have more teams in action.

GERMANY

Only Eintracht Frankfurt have been eliminated, so the Bundesliga is well placed to take an EPS slot alongside England.

Borussia Dortmund beat Atalanta in the Champions League knockout play-off round first leg. Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart could pick up more coefficient points.

Germany’s chances are hampered by the bracket. If Leverkusen and Dortmund get through one of them must meet Bayern Munich in the last 16.

SPAIN

With eight teams in Europe, Spain needed to have a strong campaign.

Chances were severely damaged by Villarreal and Athletic Club’s Champions League elimination.

While Spain have six teams still active, each win is worth less to the coefficient than those of their rivals for second place.

La Liga does have three teams in action in February: Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid and Celta Vigo.

Real Madrid won away to Benfica to put themselves into a strong position for the round of 16.

ITALY

Serie A had a slow start but remains in contention despite losing Napoli from the Champions League.

With Italy having five teams in action in February there is the potential to significantly boost its score.

Bologna, Fiorentina and Inter Milan could all add to the tally in the knockout play-offs.

But Atalanta and Juventus both lost the first legs of their Champions League ties.

POLAND

It will come as a surprise to many to find Poland so high up in the table, and that it was in the top two for a while. But Poland will not be here for long.

All four of the country’s teams have been playing in the Conference League, while over a third of its points were picked up in the qualifying rounds.

At least the remaining trio are potentially at opposite ends of the Conference League bracket.

FRANCE

It has been a disappointing season for Ligue 1 teams, starting with Nice’s failure to make it through Champions League qualifying.

It has not got much better from there for Nice, as they were then eliminated from the Europa League.

Lille, Monaco and Paris St-Germain will feature in the play-offs.

France’s chances have been further reduced by Monaco and PSG drawing each other.

GREECE

Greece still has four teams active but is a long way behind the top two slots.

However, all of its teams will play in February to boost the score.

CYPRUS

Another surprise name on the list, boosted by Pafos reaching the Champions League for the first time.

But with only two teams still active, and both in the Conference League, Cyprus is not a contender.

DENMARK

Only FC Midtjylland remain, so Denmark can be discounted too.