ENGLAND’S hold on a fifth Champions League place next season has strengthened further after another week of Euro success.
Eight of the nine Prem teams in action this week won their games, with only Chelsea beaten.
Arsenal’s 100 per cent Champions League run means they top the 36-team table, with Manchester City fourth and Liverpool, Spurs, Newcastle and Chelsea all inside the top 13.
Aston Villa’s win in Basel promoted them to third in the Europa League table, with Nottingham Forest up to 11th after their victory at Utrecht.
And Crystal Palace, who complete their Conference League opening stage next week, moved up to ninth with victory over Shelbourne.
Guaranteed bonus points for Arsenal, City and Villa will be added to with more extra points assured by the end of the full league phase next month.
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And it means England’s Uefa co-efficient tally – the total points divided by the number of teams in Uefa competition – has now risen to 13.166 points in the race for the top two spots that earn an extra place in the elite competition next term.
That is more than two full points ahead of third-placed Italy, who have 11.071 points.
And even second-placed Germany are almost a point and a half adrift of England, on 11.66.
So far this season, the Prem contingent have won 34 out of 51 matches, with only 12 defeats.
In comparison, Bundesliga, Serie A and Spain’s LaLiga teams have each won 22 games between them.
Newcastle were the beneficiaries of the fifth spot last season.
While Spurs missed out despite finishing fifth in 2023-24 when Germany and Italy took the top two places in the coefficient table.
A potential fifth Champions League spot for the Prem will be music to the ears of sixth-placed Manchester United, tenth-placed Liverpool, eleventh-placed Spurs and 12th-placed Newcastle.
United are level on points with fifth-placed Chelsea, while the Reds, Spurs and Magpies trail the Blues by two and three points respectively.
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