How European play-offs could dramatically change Dream Team landscape in February

THE league phases of the Champions League and Europa League will reach a dramatic conclusion this week.

Amid all the excitement, Dream Team managers should pay careful attention to how it all plays out as the results could have a dramatic impact on the game’s landscape.

Liverpool are one of only two teams (alongside Barcelona) to have already secured automatic qualification for the Champions League round of 16.

Only a disaster for Arsenal away to Girona (combined with unfortunate results elsewhere) will prevent the Gunners from joining Arne Slot’s side in the last 16.

However, Aston Villa’s fate is less certain ahead of their clash with Celtic at Villa Park.

A win over the Scottish giants will give them every chance of an automatic spot but they’ll also need at least one of Bayer Leverkusen, Atalanta, Milan, Atletico Madrid or Inter to falter to a certain degree.

As for Manchester City, the 2023 winners of the competition are at risk of elimination following defeat to PSG last week.

Pep Guardiola’s troops are currently 25th in the table but will earn a play-off spot with a win over Club Brugge at the Etihad this evening.

Hypothetically, let’s say both Villa and Man City end up finishing between 9th-24th in the table and progress to the play-off round.

The first legs of the Champions League play-offs are schedule for February 11th/12th and the second legs for February 18th/19th.

This would mean double headers for Villa and Man City in Gameweeks 23 and 24.

At present, Liverpool and Everton are the only teams set to pull double duty in Gameweek 23 (due to the rescheduled Merseyside derby) but additional fixtures for the likes of Erling Haaland (£7.9m), Phil Foden (£6.6m), Morgan Rogers (£3.5m), Ollie Watkins (£5.2m) and others would change the outlook considerably.

It’s a similar situation in the Europa League with the play-off legs for the continent’s secondary competition also scheduled for Gameweeks 23 and 24.

However, both Manchester United and Tottenham are in strong positions to qualify for the last 16 automatically after wins over Rangers and Hoffenheim respectively in Gameweek 20.

The Red Devils are fourth ahead of their trip to FCSB, who are also pushing for a top-eight finish, while sixth-placed Spurs host Swedish outfit Elfsborg knowing a positive result will ensure they avoid the stress of the play-offs.

More than a few Dream Team bosses will be hoping things go awry for Man United and Spurs on Thursday night as that will mean more point-scoring opportunities for Bruno Fernandes (£6.3m), Dejan Kulusevski (£4.4m) and company next month.

Make no mistake, the addition of extra fixtures for any of the aforementioned teams in February will affect transfer and captaincy strategy.

Dream Team’s Match Centre will update as required once the European play-offs are confirmed but it’s never too early to start formulating potential plans.

For example, Haaland is currently second among the most transferred-out players prior to Gameweek 22 but those managers will probably be scrambling to bring him back in if City end up in the Champions League play-offs.

All eyes on the Etihad this evening…