Premier League set to receive extra Champions League spot in major boost for English clubs

The Premier League is currently set to receive an extra Champions League qualification place for next season.

Four clubs from the English top flight qualified for this season's competition under the new format - Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool and Aston Villa.

The latter three of those clubs all qualified for the last 16 stage automatically on Wednesday night, but City must get through a knockout round play-off against either Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.

There was the opportunity for five Premier League clubs to feature in the competition this season but that didn't happen.

UEFA launched a new qualification method for the Champions League ahead of this season, which is based on their own co-efficients.

Essentially, the two nations who performed strongest in Europe during the most recent completed season - a combined tally across all teams involved in European competition - would earn an extra qualification spot.

Those extra two spots went to Italy and Germany, with English nations struggling in European competitions last term.

No English team made it beyond the quarter-finals in either the Champions League or Europa League, while Aston Villa reached the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League.

Atalanta won the Europa League - after beating Liverpool on aggregate in the quarter-finals - and Fiorentina reached the final of the Conference League in what was a superb campaign for Italian nations.

As far as Germany were concerned, Borussia Dortmund and Bayer Leverkusen contested the finals of the Champions League and Europa League respectively, while Bayern Munich reached the semi-finals of the Champions League.

This time around, however, England are currently in pole position to earn an extra qualification spot for next season's Champions League.

As per UEFA's official website, England have a current co-efficient rating of 17.785 and are comfortably ahead of second-placed Italy and third-placed Spain.

All of their seven clubs are still in Europe as things stand, while Germany in fifth place have already lost two of their eight sides - Leipzig and Stuttgart.

Twitter account @FootRankings claim that England are now 'almost certain' to secure an extra qualification spot, although it will still require teams to progress further in their respective competitions.

Chelsea are through to the last 16 round of the Conference League, with Manchester United likely to finish in the top eight of the Europa League group stage with a point away at Steaua Bucharest on Wednesday.

Tottenham, meanwhile, will need a win at home to Elfsborg to secure qualification, but any other result may leave them relying on teams around them in the table to slip up.