How Premier League can secure fifth Champions League spot as UEFA rankings updated

The Premier League has effectively secured a fifth Champions League qualification spot for the second season running via UEFA's co-efficient rankings - but it isn't an absolute done deal just yet.

Arsenal and Liverpool are through to the Champions League quarter-finals after the last 16 fixtures were completed on Wednesday.

But Tottenham, Newcastle, Chelsea and Manchester City all suffered heavy aggregate defeats in Europe.

The Europa League and Conference League last 16 ties are next on the agenda, with Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace playing the second legs of their matches on Thursday.

UEFA's co-efficient rankings, which are used to determine which two nations get an additional Champions League spot for next season, saw England comfortably clear at the top heading into this week.

The rankings work by calculating collective performance across Europe and dividing it by the number of teams from each nation that are competing in Europe for a final average score.

UEFA co-efficient rankings (after 7:45pm kick-offs)

(via Football Rankings)

• 1. England - 23.847 points
• 2. Spain - 19.468 points
• 3. Germany - 18.642 points
• 4. Portugal - 18.300 points
• 5. Italy - 17.928 points

How do the rankings work from now?

England have effectively secured a top spot, with BBC Sport's Dale Johnson calculating prior to Wednesday's matches that Spanish clubs would need to win 17 matches, and German and Italian clubs 18 matches, to overtake them - providing that no English club wins another match.

That is where the process gets more complicated, as the rankings are weighted to favour Champions League performance through a bonus-points system.

For instance, Barcelona added 0.438 points to Spain's total by winning in the Champions League last 16 second leg against Newcastle.

And Liverpool's victory over Galatasaray added 0.611 points to England's total, while Bayern got 0.5 for beating Atalanta.

Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace can all add points, though, meaning the race could be over by the end of Thursday's matches even if not all the results go the way of English clubs.

Portugal are on the back foot as Sporting Lisbon are their sole representative in the Champions League, though they still have Braga and Porto in the Europa League.

Arsenal face Sporting in the quarter-finals and can knock Portugal out of contention for top spot.

As for Italy, Atalanta are already out of the Champions League after being beaten over two legs by Bayern Munich, while Bologna and Roma will stop Italy from getting maximum Europa League points as they face each other in the last 16.

Arsenal's second-leg victory over Bayer Leverkusen, meanwhile, provided a double boost, with England gaining co-efficient points - with the potential to add more - while Germany lost the opportunity to increase their total.

Spain would be able to overtake England if Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid all progressed further in the Champions League, but would need English clubs to be eliminated from all three competitions. Real Betis and Celta Vigo would also need strong Europa League runs.