Online Reporter
ENGLISH Premier League football clubs are taking the Champions League by storm this season, powered by mighty spending muscle, with all six clubs riding high in the 36-team group phase at the halfway stage.
This week, for the second time in four rounds of fixtures, five Premier League clubs won, something no country had managed in a single game week before this season.
Four of the six reside in the top-eight which would provide automatic qualification for the last 16, while all six sit in the top 12. Of the combined 24 games they have played, 17 have resulted in wins with only three defeats.
Arsenal are second with 12 points, behind Bayern Munich on goals scored, and are the only club yet to concede a goal.
Manchester City’s 4-1 thrashing of Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night lifted them into fourth place, while Liverpool beat Real Madrid 1-0 on Tuesday night to sit eighth, two places below Newcastle United who beat Athletic Bilbao to record a third successive win since an opening defeat against Barcelona.
Unbeaten Tottenham Hotspur are 10th after a 4-0 hammering of FC Copenhagen, a win illuminated by a Micky van de Ven goal already being tipped as a “goal-of-the-season” contender.
Chelsea are 12th after surprisingly being held to a 2-2 draw away to Azerbaijan outsiders Qarabag on Wednesday night but both of those London clubs look in good shape for at least a playoff place even if they finish outside the top eight.
It would be no surprise to have all six English clubs in the last 16, beating the record five of 2017 when Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all reached that stage — the first time five clubs from a single nation had advanced to the Champions League knockout phase.
Impressive as it is, some argue that the Premier League onslaught of Europe’s top-tier club competition is inevitable.
This summer’s transfer window closed with Premier League clubs’ cumulative spend smashing the three billion pounds (US$4.03 billion) barrier for the first time.
It was more than Germany’s Bundesliga, Spain’s LaLiga, Italy’s Serie A and France’s Ligue 1 combined.
With clubs from the same national association kept apart in the group phase which concludes in January, England’s record half-dozen contingent have perhaps enjoyed an advantage.
Once the knockout phase begins, they could be drawn against each other, although should all of them finish the group phase in the top eight they would avoid each other in the last-16.
There is also the fact that in two-legged games the superiority of English clubs is less pronounced as last season showed when Paris St Germain knocked out Liverpool, Aston Villa and Arsenal en route to winning the trophy and Manchester City lost in the last-16 playoff to Real Madrid.
Only three English teams, despite their financial clout, have won the Champions League in the last 13 editions with Spain (seven) leading the way. And, judging by last season, performances in the group phase are not necessarily an indication of success in the knockouts. — AFP Sport
