After Aston Villa's exit from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday and Arsenal's victory against Real Madrid on Wednesday, football writer Ben Bloom looks at this week's remaining European ties featuring Premier League sides and what to expect.
It was a mixed bag for the other three Premier League clubs who are still in Europe.
Both Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur could only manage draws in the UEFA Europa League, while Chelsea continue untroubled in the UEFA Conference League.
Here is everything you need to know about this week’s remaining European quarter-finals second legs.
UEFA Europa League
Eintracht Frankfurt v Spurs (1-1 on aggregate)
Thursday 17 April, 20:00 BST
Unlike in so many other fixtures where they have failed to win this season, the first leg of this tie had plenty of positives for Spurs.
Despite falling behind to an early Hugo Ekitike strike, Ange Postecoglou’s side poured forward with intensity as the match wore on, but ended with only a lone Pedro Porro goal to show for it.
Spurs hit the crossbar twice and were on the receiving end of a goalkeeping masterclass from Kaua Santos, who repeatedly foiled their efforts.
“I’m resigned to the fact that the football gods have got their eyes elsewhere this year,” bemoaned Postecoglou.
His side head to Germany knowing this is their only hope of European football next season after a dismal domestic campaign featuring 17 Premier League defeats – most recently at Wolverhampton Wanderers on Sunday.
They have lost eight of their 12 away matches this calendar year, while Frankfurt are formidable at home. The German side are unbeaten in Europe at the Deutsche Bank Park, and have lost only three times at home in the Bundesliga this season, scoring in every home match.
With Spurs’ propensity to make errors – which cost them yet again at Wolves – Frankfurt’s dynamic, rapid-breaking young team will look to exploit any slip-up from Postecoglou’s side.
“We’re going to have to go there and fight now to get what I felt we deserved tonight,” said the Australian after the first leg. “That’s what we’ll try and do.”
Man Utd v Lyon (2-2 on aggregate)
Thursday April 17, 20:00 BST
For Man Utd, see Spurs. Both teams languish near the bottom of the Premier League, both have all their eggs in the Europa League basket and both keep on paying the price for errors.
In the first leg against Lyon, it was under-fire goalkeeper Andre Onana at fault for both Lyon goals, allowing Thiago Almada’s crossed free-kick to find its way into the net and failing to hold onto a shot that allowed Rayan Cherki to tap in an stoppage-time equaliser.
Onana was dropped in favour of Altay Bayindir for the trip to Newcastle on Sunday, but the Turkish goalkeeper also made a poor mistake to gift the hosts one of four goals in a crushing defeat. It remains to be seen who will get the nod in goal for Thursday’s encounter.
United were well organised and broadly comfortable for large parts of the first leg but, as has been the case many times this season, paid the price for poor finishing.
They will be without forward Joshua Zirkzee, who limped off against Newcastle with a hamstring injury. With teenager Chido Obi ineligible for Europe, Rasmus Hojlund is the only available striker.
“It’s a really difficult match, but we are playing with our fans and when we play at home, we play with one more player,” said Ruben Amorim.
UEFA Conference League
Chelsea v Legia Warsaw (3-0 on aggregate)
Thursday 17 April, 20:00 BST
There appear to be few viable threats to Chelsea’s bid for the Conference League crown, and Enzo Maresca’s side continued their serene progress by returning to London with a three-goal buffer that they will fully expect to maintain.
A first Chelsea goal for Tyrique George and a Noni Madueke double were fair reward for a dominant performance in Poland.
If there was one slight concern, it was Chelsea’s continued inability to score in opening halves – this was the seventh successive first-half blank across all competitions, and they extended that run to eight in the 2-2 draw against Ipswich Town on Sunday.
Cole Palmer was replaced at the break in a pre-planned change, and he has now not scored in 14 matches.