Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Celtic are all chasing Champions League glory this season

Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Manchester City and Celtic are all chasing Champions League glory this season

THE expanded Champions League has delighted and confused fans in equal abundance this season. More teams and more matches – plus a league table to contend with – have left many fans

The result confirms Liverpool as one of the top two teams in this year’s league phase and if the six-time champions avoid defeat in their final match against PSV Eindhoven next week, they’ll progress into the knockouts as the No.1 seeded team.

The easiest thing to learn, then, is that the bottom 12 teams in the table will be knocked out of the Champions League. One of the changes that may have gone under the radar with

Arsenal sit fifth in the Champions League table heading into tonight’s action, having won four of their opening six games. They drew with Europa League holders Atalanta and lost to Inter Milan but have otherwise impressed, with the 5-1 win away at Sporting CP surely their standout performance.

Much has changed in this season's Champions League, the knockout play-off phase being one major new introduction

It will be an unprecedented Champions League's Matchday 8 as all the teams will be playing at the same time on Wednesday, Jan. 29. Pep Guardiola's Manchester City need to win in their last tie of the league phase to avoid the elimination from the tournament,

A 2-1 victory looked to have done the job with a game to spare only for the second-placed Catalans to beat Benfica 5-4 with a goal in the sixth minute of added time to ensure the race for first place will go to the final fixture.