EUR RUNNING SCARED

The Premier League fear-factor is back and nobody will want to draw one of England’s big guns

THE Premier League has got the fear factor back – and the rest of Europe will want to avoid our Big Five in Monday’s Champions League draw.

Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain – none of them will want to face an English side.

They’ll take them in the quarter-finals or semi-finals, but won’t fancy Manchester City, United, Liverpool, Chelsea or Tottenham next up.

Our clubs were feared decades ago when I helped Liverpool lift the European Cup in 1984 (above).

We lost it for a long time, but you can sense that fear factor is back. And this draw will have a huge bearing on which English teams have the best chance of progressing.

But I would think we can look forward to having at least four teams through to the quarter- finals, possibly a full house – all five. The Premier League is so much stronger than it was a few years back.

Leicester winning it was the best thing that could have happened, because the top six were all guilty of falling asleep.

The quality of the players the top six are signing now is better than ever – that’s why they’ve all done so well in Europe this season. But I don’t see any reason why all five can’t go through. I can see Manchester City getting to the semifinals, if not the final. Pep Guardiola has got one of the top four teams in Europe right now.

The thing about the draw is that it’s a long time since quality teams like Real, Bayern, Chelsea and Juventus have been in the second pot. I would imagine that’s the strongest pot of second seeds there’s ever been.

Real are capable of winning it, so too are Bayern and Juventus.

So, if any of the English sides draw one of them they’re going to have a tough task.