Liverpool Champions League boost nears as Arne Slot gets major encouragement

Liverpool will discover its last-16 opponent in the Champions League on Friday, before continuing its quest to qualify for next season's competition against West Ham on Saturday

Liverpool head coach Arne Slot during a Champions League press conference.(Image: Jan Kruger/Getty Images)

So far this season, Liverpool has generally looked more comfortable in the Champions League than the Premier League, for a variety of different reasons.

But unless it wins the whole tournament, qualifying for next year's edition of UEFA's top competition will require finishing above at least one of Chelsea or Manchester United domestically, with the Reds playing catch-up.

Aston Villa might be too far ahead to overhaul at this point, while Manchester United is only playing Premier League games because it has no European soccer and is already out of the domestic cups. Realistically, Chelsea is the team that Liverpool should be eyeing to overtake.

In its next few matches, Liverpool has West Ham, Wolves, Spurs, Brighton and Fulham. Chelsea, meanwhile, has Arsenal, Aston Villa, Newcastle, Everton and then the two Manchester clubs.

If Liverpool is to move above Chelsea, then, the next few weeks might be the time to do it. But will that be enough to make the Champions League spots?

Because of the English sides' performances in Europe so far this season, the answer is almost certainly yes. In addition to the Premier League's four spots, the top two performing nations across the continent get an extra place.

Liverpool will find out its last-16 opponents in the Champions League later this week(Image: Getty Images)

Last season, the Premier League got five places but Spurs also won the Europa League, meaning six English teams qualified. And that has helped the coefficient this time around.

Each win — regardless of the competition — is worth two coefficient points, with a draw worth one. An average is then taken. The two countries with the best average get the extra places.

England is the only country to still have all of its teams active in Europe, and there are nine of them. In addition to the six in the Champions League, there is also Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest and Crystal Palace.

Quite simply, it will be very hard for the Premier League teams not to earn the fifth qualifying position from this point, with two German clubs, two Spanish clubs and three Italian clubs now knocked out.

There are far more chances for English teams to pick up wins, which should further strengthen the Premier League's hold on the extra qualification spot.

At some point, sides from the same country are likely to face each other, but that is the same everywhere — Bayer Leverkusen, for example, could play Bayern Munich next, depending on Friday's draw.

For Liverpool to achieve its minimum aim of getting back into the Champions League, the fifth spot is likely to be required. Unlike when it finished fifth under Jurgen Klopp three years ago, this time, it looks set to be enough.

Liverpool.com says: Finishing fourth looks hard from here. Liverpool is playing catch-up and Manchester United has the huge advantage of not having many games to tire itself out and pick up injuries.

Getting ahead of Chelsea feels realistic, though, and it was always likely that fifth would be sufficient. Given the way that the UEFA competitions are going (no surprise given the financial edge that the English teams have), that looks not far off being mathematically confirmed.