Updated to end of the week for completeness

Germany 74 from 7 clubs so 10.571 points
Spain 80 from 7 clubs so 11.428
England 71.5 from 7 clubs so 10.214
Italy 51.5 from 6 clubs so 8.583

OVERALL FIVE YEAR
1 Spain 96.284
2 Germany 75.498
3 England 71.248

4 Italy 67.665

So if the new boss of UEFA keeps the same process we look very good for a top 3 place at end of this season

Matchday 6 Info

All three British teams have a "live" game (Need to get points) so BT will show them all

Also the other match in Man United's group is a live match with both teams needing a result

Also Villarreal v Steaua has both teams needing points and it is a 4 o clock game

Why on earth are they playing it at 4pm?

Because the final games in each group need to kick off at the same time, and Osmanlispor are at home.

Turkey is one of the countries that gets early kick-offs because of geography and weather.

All final games in a group need to kick off at the same time.

The other group game takes place in Ankara so needs to kick off early.

EDIT - posting whilst Mark. was doing the same

Before the howls of protest come in from Ireland, there are only two British teams still in the competition.

Dundalk are from the Republic of Ireland which has been independent of Britain for 94 years now!

The Republic of Ireland is on the British Isles, though.

/ducks

Just to put some numbers on the coefficient situation, so far England have accrued 71.5 points so far this season. To be in a position to overtake England, Italy would need to be on 73.0 points at this point. As it is they are on 51.5, some 21.5 points less than where they need to be.

So to catch England, Italy need score at least another 21.5 points in the rest of the season, plus six points for every seven that England get. Is that likely? Probably not.

However, it's not over quite yet. What slightly concerns me is the fact that Man City and (probably) Arsenal will not win their groups. Leicester will win their group, but if we're honest they got a decent draw and will face a tougher test in the last 16. Depending on what the draw throws up, it wouldn't be a huge surprise to see England with no teams in the quarter finals.

Juventus should win their group. A tie between them and Arsenal/Man City would be a crucial match and an England win would probably finish the job. If Napoli avoid defeat in Lisbon they will qualify for the last 16 and earn Italy five points. If they are knocked out, however, they will be in the Europa League.

It's worth remembering that wins in the Europa League count the same as wins in the Champions League. I guess the logic behind giving five bonus points for reaching the last 16 of the Champions League is to make up for the fact that the Europa League has an extra knock out round which offers up to four match points.

Both Man Utd and Southampton should qualify for the last 32. I don't have much confidence in Southampton progressing much further after Christmas, but you never know. Man Utd could go far, but they really could do with winning their group. Come February it could be Man Utd's best route into the Champions League. The same could be true for Tottenham. But I do worry that they won't make much effort in the last group game of the Champions League and get knocked out of Europe altogether.

Roma have already qualified as group winners in the Europa League and Fiorentina should join them. The worry has to be that we have a repeat of 2014-15 where Juventus go deep into the Champions League and Roma and Fiorentina go far in the Europa League. We should be okay, but it's not a done deal.

A good effort from BT to round off the Group Stages

Double header on the early kick offs as well

Villarreal v Steaua Bucharest 16:00 BT Sport ESPN
FK Qarabag v Fiorentina 16:00 BT Sport 2
FC Zorya Luhansk v Man Utd 18:00 BT Sport 3
Maccabi Tel-Aviv v Dundalk 18:00 BT Sport ESPN
Southampton v Hapoel Be'er Sheva 20:05 BT Sport 2
Standard Liege v Ajax 20:05 BT Sport ESPN
Panathinaikos v Celta Vigo 20:05 BT Sport 3

Feyenoord v Fenerbahce at 18:00 is the Showcase game

So with Sassuolo v Genk to be played this morning, after last night Italy had reduced the gap to England to 14.5 points. Most of this came from Napoli qualifying for the Last 16 of the Champions League.

I still think England should be okay, but there are still a lot of points to play for.

So we have the Last 32 of the Europa League

Still in the draw are TWENTY teams who back in May had qualified for the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE !

THIS is the reason why the Europa League has lost its worth

Win the Europa League and win every match gives one Team a maximum of 21 points

Last 32 4 points
Last 16 5 points
Quarter 5 points
Semi 5 points
Final 2 points

But the winners qualify for the Champions League which will be the ONLY way MUFC for instance have a chance of being in the CL next season. so the prestige of the competition has been heightened in the last couple of years

It would probably need something similar to 2014-15 when Juventus made the Champions League Final and Napoli and Fiorentina made the semi finals of the Europa League. We have five teams left and Italy has only four. But we're not safe quite yet.


We really need Man Utd and Spurs to take it seriously. I'm sure Roma and Fiorentina will.

The Europa League's never really been of that much value to anyone outside the second tier of clubs, who have it as a fall back position from the Champions League.

I would argue that the big problem for the Europa League is that the Champions League skims off not just the Champions but a number of significant other teams and therefore reduces the value of the other competitions. Back in the UEFA Cup days before the expansion of the Champions League it was a much stronger competition.



Writing off Man United's top 4 hopes already? Brave man!

Having the Champions of the EL qualify for the Champions League isn't much of a benefit to the EL competition - if anything it deprives the competition of a good quality team.

Sure, he typed "only" in capitals and all so it is definitive.

A victory for Spurs on Sunday and MUFC will be lucky to finish in the top 6

No capitals so I think you're speculating this time

Sassuolo lost 2-0, so the gap stays at 14.5 points. That could be crucial come May.

Opposite for me.

I guess it's a matter of opinion and perspective.

Having not made a great deal of attention to it before this season I've never really thought too much about it but I would feel that a competition made up of more teams that failed in another competition than those who qualified through the competition itself is inherently weak if it needs propping up.

Unlike the old European Cup & UEFA Cups (deliberately leaving out the Cup Winners' Cup) these competitions are driven more by finance than merit, so I can see the reasons why it happens.

The EXCO, who met on Friday, will have the final say on new format

From a reliable source on Bert Kassies site


Most important conclusions:

• Access for clubs from all associations is maintained, everyone has a chance in both competitions.

• More associations than in the past represented across both group stages (from 22 to 26).

• Priority to champions: all domestic champions starting in the UCL champions path guaranteed at least 4 games (ie. 2 rounds) and more champions to qualify for the UEL group stage.

• Direct access to the UEL is maintained for all clubs participating in the UCL League path.

• Not just revenue increase overall but extra allocation of €50m and €10m for UEL and solidarity respectively.

• Qualification Rounds (as of Q1) to start one week later and UEFA to work out a new draw concept in order to facilitate clubs’ travel arrangements.

• Individual club performances better rewarded in the sporting coefficient ranking which will no longer include association points

NON CHAMPIONS (LEAGUE) PATH, definitly chosen "Option 2"

NCQ2: 6 starters (runner up Countries 10-15)

NCQ3: 5 starters (3rd 5, 3rd 6, runner up 7-9) + 3 winners from NCQ2 = 8 teams

NCQ4 (play off): 4 winners from NCQ3

What I would read into this is that we have TOP 4 GUARANTEED in Group Stages