Newcastle United, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa receive major Champions League boost

Newcastle United will welcome Nottingham Forest to St James’ Park on Sunday (2pm kick-off) in what could be a huge match in both teams’ hopes to qualify for next season’s Champions League. Forest currently sit six points ahead of the Magpies in the Premier League table, a gap that could have been extended to nine or reduced to three by 4pm on Sunday.

Having lost three of their last four league matches, Eddie Howe’s side will be keen to right those wrongs and put themselves in a better position to attack Champions League qualification between now and the end of the campaign. And if they can do that, beginning this weekend, then teams on the continent have just given their hopes a massive boost:

Tuesday’s Champions League action

Bayern Munich scored a stoppage-time equaliser against Celtic at the Allianz Arena, a goal that ensured they would progress 3-2 on aggregate. Benfica and Monaco played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in Portugal with the hosts going through to the last-16 thanks to their 1-0 win in France last week.

Elsewhere, AC Milan fell to a 2-1 aggregate loss against Feyenoord whilst last season’s Europa League winners Atalanta were beaten 3-1 at home against Club Brugge. That result ensured Gian Piero Gasperini’s side would exit the competition with a 5-2 aggregate loss.

These results may seem irrelevant to Newcastle United, but the truth is quite the opposite…

UEFA’s 5th place coefficient

With two Italian clubs exiting the competition on Tuesday night, it is now almost guaranteed that the Premier League will have at least five clubs in next season’s Champions League. All seven English teams that entered European competition this season qualified for the knockout rounds and whilst Manchester City could be the first to fall against Real Madrid tonight, the other six entrants have guaranteed their spot in the next knockout round.

England already enjoyed a healthy lead over their European rivals in the ‘coefficient table’ heading into this week, with Italy’s struggles set to severely dent their hopes of five Champions League places.

Current coefficient table

1. England, 20.892

2. Spain, 18.035

3. Italy, 17.812

4. Portugal, 15.850

5. Germany, 15.734

6. France, 14.357

7. Belgium, 14.250

8. Netherlands, 13.666

9. Greece, 11.062

10. Sweden, 10.125

What this means for Newcastle United, Aston Villa & co

This is very good news for those teams chasing Champions League qualification in the Premier League. Unlike last season which saw four teams qualify for the competition through the league, it is very likely that finishing fifth or above will seal Champions League qualification.

Sixth and seventh will likely be enough for Europa League football whilst eighth would secure a Conference League place - although permutations involving both cup competitions and winners of those various competitions this season will impact that come May. For Newcastle United, they know they must start getting results in the league and stay in touch with all their closest rivals, but events this week will give them huge confidence that their efforts, should a top-five finish be secured, will be rewarded when the season concludes.

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