Premier League to get fifth Champions League spot

The Premier League is set to gain an extra UEFA Champions League spot for a second consecutive season after Arsenal's 1-0 victory at Sporting in April guaranteed that England would finish in the top two of UEFA's coefficient table, which measures how clubs from each nation perform across European competitions this season.

According to UEFA, the two leagues with the highest "average points" by the end of the campaign "will each earn one automatic place in the (Champions League) league phase – the 'European Performance Spot' for the club ranked next-best in their domestic league behind those clubs that have already qualified directly for the league phase".

Progression for Arsenal in their Champions League quarter-final tie against Sporting, Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest in their Europa League quarter-finals and Crystal Palace in their Conference League quarter-final, have helped boost England's average points to 26.569.

UEFA coefficient rankings*

*Source: UEFA; as of 08:30 BST, 17 April. Scroll across to see full table

With the Premier League's top four guaranteed automatic entry into the Champions League's league phase, that would mean fifth place would also qualify.

See: UEFA explains European Performance Spots

Fifth-placed Liverpool are currently in pole position and are four points ahead of sixth-placed Chelsea. Brentford and Everton are only five points behind the Reds, with Brighton and Hove Albion and Sunderland six points back.

With so many clubs competing for European places, it is shaping up to be an exciting end to the season.

See: How Premier League clubs qualify for Europe

The Premier League still has four clubs competing in Europe with Arsenal (Champions League), Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest (Europa League) and Crystal Palace (Conference League) all reaching the semi-final stage. That is at least two more than any other country.

By contrast, Spain, Germany and France each only have two clubs left, and Portugal and Ukraine have one club apiece still earning them points.

Premier League clubs' remaining ties in UEFA competitions

Champions League semi-finals
29 Apr Atletico Madrid v Arsenal
5 May Arsenal v Atletico Madrid

Europa League semi-finals
30 Apr Nottingham Forest v Aston Villa
7 May Aston Villa v Nottingham Forest

Conference League semi-finals
30 Apr Shakhtar Donetsk v Crystal Palace
7 May Crystal Palace v Shakhtar Donetsk

How does UEFA's coefficient table work?

UEFA calculates which two leagues will be rewarded with the extra European Performance Spot by adding up coefficient points based on the performances of clubs from each league across the Champions League, Europa League and UEFA Conference League, and then dividing those points by the number of clubs from each league who STARTED this season in a European competition. 

It means the various leagues are competing against each other in a ranking called the "association club coefficient".

Every win for a club in any of UEFA's club competitions this season earns each league two points, while a draw gets one point, and there are no points for a defeat.

On top of that, bonus points are awarded according to where each club finished in their European league table. These are weighted according to the competition.

For example, finishing top of the table in the Champions League gets you 12 bonus points, while the equivalent position in the Europa League gets six, and the top team in the Conference League earn four points.

Arsenal finished top of this season's Champions League league phase table so they earned the maximum number of bonus points. Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea and Man City all secured double-digit bonus points too, courtesy of finishing in the top eight, while Newcastle (12th) earned 9.25 points.

Additional bonus points are awarded for reaching each round from the last 16 onwards. These are also weighted according to the competition.

Bonus points added per round