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Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Newcastle are all in the Champions League this season. After the group stage, here's an honest assessment of each club's European prospects.
Four Premier League clubs are competing in the UEFA Champions League this season: Manchester City, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Newcastle United. The group stage has now concluded, and all four have qualified for the knockout rounds — but their paths through Europe look very different. Here is an honest assessment of where each club stands.
City topped their group with five wins and one draw, conceding just three goals across six games. Haaland contributed seven Champions League goals — consistent with his domestic form — and Pep Guardiola has used the European nights to experiment with his defensive shape, hinting at tactical flexibility that could unsettle opponents in the knockout rounds. City are the bookmakers' second favourites behind Real Madrid for the competition. Their draw in the round of 16 will be watched closely by the whole continent.
Arsenal's Champions League journey in 2026-27 has been more tentative. They qualified second from their group after a shock home defeat to Feyenoord in Matchday 4, a result that briefly raised questions about Arteta's rotation policy. Recovered since, they beat Porto 3-0 on Matchday 6 to confirm their place with a game to spare. The challenge for Arsenal is managing Premier League and European commitments simultaneously — something the club has not had to do consistently for over a decade. They look capable of reaching the quarter-finals but would struggle against a true elite side at that stage.
Arne Slot's Liverpool are built for European football. Their compact shape and devastating counter-attack — channelled primarily through Salah and Luis Diaz on the wings — has been effective even against cautious opponents. They topped their group, keeping four clean sheets in six games. The concern is in the final third: Liverpool have scored fewer Champions League goals than any other English club in the competition, their efficiency masking a creative frugality that elite European defences may expose.
Newcastle's second consecutive Champions League campaign is going better than their first. Qualified in second place from a group that included Atletico Madrid, they will face a seeded team in the round of 16. Alexander Isak is their European talisman with five goals, and the backing of their supporters — many of whom never expected to see their club back in the Champions League — has created an atmosphere at St James' Park that visiting clubs find difficult to handle. A quarter-final finish would represent a historic achievement.
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