Arsenal lead five English sides straight into Champions League last 16, with Newcastle still battling | OneFootball

Liverpool and Arne Slot enjoyed some respite and relief, Arsenal fans got a glimpse of what the Kai Havertz-Viktor Gyokeres axis can offer, Jeremy Doku is evolving into Kevin De Bruyne and the whole of Europe should be utterly ashamed of Tottenham finishing fourth.

They’re all safely through to the last-16 after finishing in the automatic qualification spots. Chelsea are also in as Cole Palmer returned just in time for Liam Rosenior, but Newcastle will face either Monaco or Qarabag in the play-offs after a credible but ultimately costly draw with PSG.

Liverpool 6-0 Qarabag: Respite and relief for Slot and the Reds

A very welcome comfortable night in an uncomfortable season for Arne Slot and Liverpool, who did the necessary to secure a top-four finish by dismantling Qarabag with minimal fuss and a good deal of elan.

Securing a third-place finish is significant too, meaning Liverpool will have home advantage of the second leg in both the last 16 and, should they get through, the quarter-final. Slot will hope for a bit more luck of the draw after being lumbered with PSG in the last 16 despite topping the table a year ago.

This was a night of respite and relief for Liverpool in general, and for some specific players too. Alexis Mac Allister scored two, with welcome goals for Florian Wirtz and Mo Salah along the way as well as another for Hugo Ekitike who is perhaps less in need of a spirit lift, ending with a rare opportunity for Liverpool fans to sing their favourite song courtesy of a Federico Chiesa cherry on top.

Eintracht Frankfurt 0-2 Tottenham: Spurs finish fourth to shame the continent

In scenes that shame the continent, a Tottenham team dogged by mounting relegation fears in the Premier League sauntered to a 2-0 win over Eintracht Frankfurt and with it a fourth-place finish in the Champions League.

Like Liverpool, they will be at home in both the last-16 and quarter-final if they make it through. And omen fans might like to note that finishing fourth in the table directly below a fellow English team with 17 points from a 5-2-1 record is precisely what they did in last year’s Europa League. And we all know how that panned out.

After a frustrating first half in which Spurs were the better team against a Frankfurt side a shadow of the one they beat in the last eight of last year’s Europa, the breakthrough came early in the second half through Randal Kolo Muani who apparently, and unhelpfully, is only going to score for Spurs against his current or former employers. Might not seem a particularly useful trick, but worth noting that Juventus are among Spurs’ four potential last-16 opponents.

Dominic Solanke made the points safe, while Real Madrid’s defeat at Jose Mourinho’s Benfica (for whom goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin scored a 98th-minute goal to seal a 4-2 victory and nick the final play-off spot off Marseille) means Spurs jump to fourth in the final standings.

The 14th best team in England ending the league phase of the Champions League above your Barcelonas, your Real Madrids, and the Paris St Germains of this world. In the last three months, Spurs have won twice as many Champions League games (4) as Premier League ones (2). We need a word for it.

Fire emojis abound on social media upon the advent of Kai Havertz x Viktor Gyokeres, which arrived after just two minutes of football together, with the worth of Havertz compared to Martin Odegaard pointed out just as eagerly by Gooners as the German opened up his body with one touch in the No.10 position and slipped his teammate in with the next. Decent finish by Gyokeres, too, as he recovered from getting the ball stuck under his feet to fire into the bottom corner.

Havertz added to the ‘ohhh, this is what we’ve been missing’ narrative by scoring brilliantly a few minutes later as he cut in past a couple of defenders from the right before curling his shot into the corner.

Gabriel Martinelli scored a third for Arsenal as Gyokeres also got himself an assist, and while allowing FC Kairat to score two goals at the Emirates is of course shameful, the recriminations should be limited at the end of a Champions League group phase which has ended with Mikel Arteta’s side top of the table with eight wins from eight games.

Manchester City 2-0 Galatasaray: Jeremy Doku evolving into Kevin De Bruyne

Jeremy Doku’s evolution from head-down speedster to high-IQ creator continued apace at the Eithad as Manchester City cruised through to the last 16 with a 2-0 win over Galatasaray.

The second assist was what you might expect of Doku, as he received the ball on the left, unsettled the defender with a couple of body jitters, cut back, passed to Rayan Cherki for him to finish low in the bottom corner. Even that would have been something of a surprise a year or so ago, when the final ball tended to be a cause of huge frustration.

Now it’s a genuine plus-point in his game, as illustrated comprehensively by his first assist.

Kevin De Bruyne would have been proud of the pass played one side of the defender from the centre circle as Erling Haaland stormed past the other shoulder to latch on to the ball before dinking the onrushing goalkeeper.

Will Ford

Possible next opponents for England’s six Champions League knockout-stage qualifiers

As with last year, the draw for the play-off and knockout rounds for the European competitions will be bracketed and partially seeded based on finishing positions.

The eight automatic qualifiers for the last 16 are paired with the team next to them in the table and will automatically be placed on opposite sides of the draw. This means, for instance, that – as with Spurs and Man United in last year’s Europa League – it is impossible, for Liverpool and Spurs to meet before the final after they finished third and fourth to be paired together.

Chelsea (6th) are paired with fifth-placed Barcelona, table-toppers Arsenal with second-placed Bayern Munich, and Manchester City, who claimed the eighth and last automatic spot after falling in the play-offs last year, paired with Sporting after their seventh-place finish.

Each of those pairs then has two pairs of potential opponents from the play-off rounds, again based on finishing positions.

Those possible opponents are as followed

Arsenal possible Champions League last 16 opponents

Borussia Dortmund, Olympiacos, Atalanta, Bayer Leverkusen

Liverpool possible Champions League last 16 opponents

Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Juventus, Atletico Madrid

Tottenham possible Champions League last 16 opponents

Club Brugge, Galatasaray, Juventus, Atletico Madrid

Chelsea possible Champions League last 16 opponents

Qarabag, Monaco, Newcastle, PSG

Manchester City possible Champions League last 16 opponents

Bodo/Glimt, Benfica, Real Madrid, Inter Milan

Things are slightly different for Newcastle, the only English team forced down the play-off route. We can narrow their possible opponents in that to two based on seeding pairs, with two possible last-16 opponents should they make it through.

Newcastle possible Champions League play-off opponents

Qarabag, Monaco

Newcastle possible Champions League last 16 opponents

Chelsea, Barcelona

For both Chelsea and Newcastle, there also therefore exists the highly unusual possibility of playing a fellow English team in every knockout round.

They could face each other in the last 16 should Newcastle make it, then  either Liverpool or Tottenham in the quarter-final, and then Arsenal and Manchester City in either order in the semi-final and final if those two have themselves landed on opposite sides of the draw. Arsenal v Manchester City is a potential quarter-final if they end up on the same side of the draw as each other.

The draw for the play-off round takes place in Nyon on Friday, with the final draw to set the complete knockout bracket for the last 16 onwards taking place on February 27.