Champions League draw as it stands as Arsenal and Liverpool face crunch QFs | Football | Sport

The Champions League league phase table is delicately poised for a night of chaos next midweek. All 36 teams now have just one match remaining as they look to confirm their fates for the knockout stages. And all 18 matches will be played at the same time – 8pm on Wednesday 28 January. Six Premier League clubs will be in action, with five of them currently occupying spots in the top eight.

The clubs that finish in the top eight earn seeding and automatically qualify for the round of 16 while the teams ninth to 24th must face off in a two-legged playoff to join them. Arsenal are already near guaranteed to top the table thanks to a healthy goal difference while Liverpool and Tottenham simply need to win their last matches, against Qarabag and Eintracht Frankfurt, to confirm their last-16 spots. Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester City are still bidding to join them.

And thanks to the Champions League’s new draw format, we already have an idea of who each club might face – though the table is obviously subject to change on the final night of league phase games. As it stands, 11th-placed Man City are the only English club who will have to navigate a two-legged playoff – in which they are currently slated to take on either Monaco (21st) or PSV (22nd).

Reward for winning would see City pitted against either the fifth or sixth seed in the last 16. As it stands, that would be Premier League rivals Spurs or European Cup holders PSG. 

Spurs know that if they do not face City, the three other opponents they currently stand to face in their first knockout tie are Monaco (21st), PSV (22nd) or Atletico Madrid (12th).

While Arsenal’s reward for finishing first stands to be a two-legged last-16 tie against one of four teams: Galatasaray (17th), Qarabag (18th), Juventus (15th) or Borussia Dortmund (16th).

Liverpool currently sit fourth and, if the draw were conducted today, would face one of the following four teams in the round of 16: Atalanta (13th), Inter Milan (14th), Marseille (19th) or Bayer Leverkusen (20th).

Newcastle are currently seventh in the table and, as such, could face a mouthwatering tie against Barcelona (9th) if they were able to cling on to their seeding. Other current possible opponents are Sporting CP (10th), Athletic Club (23rd) or Olympiacos (24th). Chelsea sit eighth, and so their pool of potential rivals is the same as Newcastle’s at the moment.

The draw bracket means that Arsenal would be in the same side of the draw as Newcastle and Chelsea, making an all-English quarter-final against either team a possibility. Alternatively, five-time winners Barcelona could await in the last eight.

Six-time champions Liverpool could be pitted against either Man City or Tottenham in the quarter-finals, as it stands, while PSG or Atletico are other fearsome challengers.

With one more match to play for every club, the table could yet change significantly. But Arsenal appear certain to finish second while Liverpool, due to their goal difference, are unlikely to finish higher than third.

Spurs can also finish third at the absolute highest, while Newcastle and Chelsea cannot afford to slip up away at PSG and Napoli, respectively, in order to secure top-eight berths. City need to beat Galatasaray at home and hope other results go their way.

Finishing first in the league phase did not help Liverpool last year as they ran into PSG in the last 16 and were eliminated. But in a rule change this year, Arsenal are guaranteed to be at home in the second leg of every knockout round they play provided they finish top of the table.