Liverpool and Arsenal glory would not harm English quota

LEAGUE positioning means victory in the Champions League for Liverpool and the Europa League for Arsenal is unlikely to have any impact on regular qualification for Europe’s premier competition, writes DANIEL McDONNELL.

The fact that Liverpool are set to finish in the top four places of the Premier League means it’s quite a straightforward situation.

If Arsenal do not win the Europa League, there will only be four English clubs in next season’s Champions League. If Arsenal get through, there will be five. That is the maximum that any country is allowed to have in the group stages.

So if England provided the holders of both competitions, and they both finished outside the top four of the league, then the team finishing fourth in the Premier League would miss out.

Spurs suffered in 2012 when the limit for the competition stood at four.

When Chelsea shocked Europe by winning the Champions League under Roberto Di Matteo – despite having finished sixth in the Premier League – fourth-placed Spurs were bumped from Europe’s premier competition.

As it happens, Mauricio Pochettino’s side are currently on course to finish in that position but they should be safe.

That’s because Liverpool sit third. If they somehow managed to lose their final games and be overtaken by Spurs and Chelsea, then the lowest-ranked London club would miss out on the Champions League if Liverpool and Arsenal won their respective competitions.

There will be no drip-down effect to the Europa League too.

Seven is the maximum amount of clubs from any country permitted into European competition across both competitions.

A Dutch club would benefit in the Europa League from an English double.