For the uninitiated, the knockout playoffs replaced the old round of 32, where it pits the runners-up of each Europa League group against a team that finished third in the Champions League group stage. Mikel Arteta has already highlighted the importance of finishing atop their group, and will start his strongest players on Thursday.įor Spurs, United and Arsenal, the worst case scenarios mentioned above would mean they would play in the Europa League’s knockout playoffs. However, should they falter versus the Swiss side combined with a PSV victory at Norway’s Bodø/Glimt and it will mean second place in Group A for Arsenal. A win at home to bottom club Zürich will see them win the group at PSV’s expense. The good news for the Gunners is that they are still in control of their own destiny. Otherwise, it will be second spot for Erik ten Hag’s men.Īs for Arsenal, they missed their chance to top the section at PSV last week, going down 2-0 to the Dutch club. The Red Devils have already assured themselves a top two finish in their Europa League section, but will need to defeat Real Sociedad by at least two goals in order to pip the Spanish team to top spot. There they would join Manchester United and Arsenal. Lose, and they drop to the Europa League. The good news for Antonio Conte’s men is that they just need a point to join City, Liverpool and Chelsea in the last 16 of the Champions League. Remarkably, the French side can still top the group despite currently sitting bottom. Spurs currently leads an enticing Champions League group, facing the last placed side Marseille away on Tuesday.
More importantly, they enter the round of 16, avoiding the knockout playoffs. The Irons are the only team in this season’s competition to have won all of their games in the tournament so far. West Ham won their group in the Europa Conference League, winning against Silkeborg, Anderlecht and FCSB. The Italian side is unbeaten on the season, making the task even more difficult. While City and Chelsea have topped their section, Liverpool needs to defeat Napoli by at least four goals to also win their group. Manchester City, Liverpool, and Chelsea have all qualified for the Champions League last 16 ahead of their matches this week. There will be 3-4 of them in the Champions League, 2-3 in the Europa League, and one in the Europa Conference League. Where the European representatives from the Premier League stand before the last round of playĪll seven of the Premier League sides will get past the group stages of UEFA’s club competitions. That makes this week all the more important for Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United, and Arsenal as they look to avoid such fate. So, if a team can make the round of 16 in the Europa (Conference) League without playing the two-game knockout round playoffs, that is less energy spent.
With the increasingly busier fixture schedule for clubs all around Europe’s top leagues, the aim is to avoid playing more games than necessary.
Due to the FIFA World Cup taking place in November and December instead of during the summer, the season looks very different than usual. The last round of group stage football in UEFA’s club competitions takes place this week. By David Parkes 9 months ago The three could end up in the Europa League knockout round playoffs in February/March
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