The Premier League could dominate the Champions League next season with possibly seven clubs that deserve places in the competition.
The renewed UEFA competition is enthusiastic this season, with the New-Look League stage followed by an exciting last-16 stage. There is still British interest in the competition, with Arsenal and Aston Villa advanced to the quarterfinals.
The Gunners are confronted with a heavy task in the form of Real Madrid that PSV has dominated. In the meantime, the men of Unai Emery will compete against Paris Saint-Germain after their victory against Club Brugge.
And although there are many turns and are left in the Champions League, the attention seems to be going to next year, where an unprecedented number of teams could go to the top table in Europe:
As it looks now, the Premier League has four automatic Champions League places. And they are distributed relatively easily.
The teams that end in the top four places come the end of the season that places. As it looks now, that would be Liverpool, Arsenal, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea.
But enough could still change with even the 10th placed Fulham only seven points of the pace and firmly contrary to ten games of the season to play. Very out of Manchester City, Newcastle, Brighton, Aston Villa and Bournemouth will all hope to squeeze in the top four.
So although the automatic places are relatively easy, a new UEFA rule complicates things somewhat. The administrative body of the European competition still has two Champions League spots and gives each of those with the federations with the two highest coefficient score on the way to next season.
A coefficiity trip is based on how their clubs perform in the three competitions of UEFA: the Champions League, the Europa League and the Europa Conference League. Each club gets two points for a victory and one by a draw.
And to work out the coefficient, all those points are added together and shared by the number of clubs that a federation has in European competitions. And once the federations have been decided, the clubs that end outside the normal qualifying places of Champions League get the extra space. So in the Premier League it means that fifth place would be eligible.
Fortunately, the Premier League is really well placed to get one of the extra places. The UEFA coefficient of England is at 108.8 at this stage and that seems to rise by five from the seven clubs of the division that are still in Europe.
The coefficient of Italy is 94.7, with the lower of Spain at 91.5. Germany it seems very unlikely that it deserves the extra space with their coefficient at 85.5 with only three of their clubs that remain in European competitions. France looks even more unlikely with their score at 70.9 with two more clubs in Europe.
So that is the first five, but there may be two Champions League spots to play for. The winner of the Champions League is automatically eligible for the competition, so Arsenal and Aston Villa will be assured of their place if they cancel the trophy.
But the limit of the Premier League would only increase if one of the two is not eligible through their competition position. It is a similar story for the Europa League winners, who are given a place in the Champions League.
That means that Manchester United or Tottenham may be eligible, but only if they don't have it because of their competition because of their competition. And as it looks now, neither of them seems to get somewhere close to the top four, but still have a realistic opportunity to play Champions League football.
Okay, this is where it becomes a bit more difficult to train. No fewer than 11 English clubs can play in Europe that will play next season, but many of them have to be done first.
As always, the top four will be eligible for the Champions League next to the UEFA site bonus. Should Aston Villa win the Champions League, and Man United of Tottenham wins the Europa League, as well as every trophy winners who end up eighth, ninth or tenth, would see two Champions League places.
All those would see the Europa League places fall to sixth and seventh place, although the FA Cup winners have to end in the top seven. Chelsea would also book a Europa League place if they win the Conference League and finish eighth, ninth or tenth.
Finally, that would leave the only Conference League spot of the Premier League in 11th place in the table. And as it looks now, that Crystal Palace would give that place.
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