Champions League: Who could Premier League teams face next?

With all four Premier League clubs progressing to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League, football writer Alex Keble looks at who they could face next and assesses the lessons from each team's final match in the league phase.

Who will each team face in the next round?

Liverpool, Arsenal and Villa have all qualified in the top eight, meaning they automatically progress to the last 16. 

Here is who they could face.

Liverpool: Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica, Monaco, Stade Brestois
Arsenal: AC Milan, PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord, Juventus
Aston Villa: Atalanta, Borussia Dortmund, Sporting, Club Brugge

Man City, though, will have to come through the playoff round to reach the last 16, after finishing 22nd in the table. Here is who they could face.

Man City: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid

When is the playoff draw?

The draw for the playoff matches will take place on Friday 31 January at 11:00 GMT.

The reason why Man City will face either Real Madrid or Bayern is because of their final league position.

For example, a team who finished in ninth or 10th will take on a side placed 23rd or 24th. Teams finishing 11th or 12th will be drawn against either the 21st or 22nd-placed sides, and so on.

So as Man City finished 22nd, they will therefore face the team who finished 11th (Real Madrid) or 12th (Bayern).

Teams who finished from ninth to 16th are seeded, which in principle means they will play the second leg at home.

This means that City will play at home first. 

The matches in the playoff phase will take place between 11/12 and 18/19 February, during Matchweek 24 and after Matchweek 25 in the Premier League.

Savinho 'spark' changes the game as Man City squeeze through

Man City 3-1 Club Brugge

It was hardly a vintage performance from Manchester City, who just about made it to the playoffs after coming back from 1-0 down at half-time.

Pep Guardiola’s reaction to Man City's all-important second goal – pumping his fists, then kicking the drinks cooler in anger and relief – spoke volumes.

Qualification is all that matters, but it was another City performance of mistakes, frustration, frailty and - ultimately - quality.

In the first half City couldn’t break down a stubborn 6-4-0 formation before Club Brugge exposed another wide-open Man City midfield to score on the counter-attack. It was an all-too familiar story, until Savinho came on at half-time.

“I think we missed a spark,” Guardiola said afterwards. “Savinho changed the game.”

He was a constant menace down the left wing, carving Club Brugge open with his dribbling before pre-assisting the second goal and scoring the third.

Savinho's goal v Club Brugge

His impact helped Man City extend their unbeaten Champions League run at the Etihad Stadium to 35 matches in a 90-minute match, just eight short of a record that was set between 1969 and 1991.

That record was set by Bayern Munich, whom Man City could face in the playoffs.

Watkins usurps Duran on famous night at Villa Park

Aston Villa 4-2 Celtic

The "Battle of Britain" had it all: an electric atmosphere under the Villa Park floodlights saw six goals, a comeback from 2-0 down, a missed penalty, countless chances at both ends, and a tense finale as the home side waited for confirmation they had done enough to finish in the top eight and go straight into the last 16.

Morgan Rogers was the star. He became the second-youngest Englishman to score a Champions League hat-trick, after Wayne Rooney against Fenerbahce in September 2004, while also becoming the first player in the competition’s history to score twice in the opening five minutes of a match.

Rogers' hat-trick v Celtic

Yet the bigger story here was Ollie Watkins’s performance. On a day when Aston Villa reportedly rebuffed an approach for Watkins from Arsenal while apparently coming to an agreement to sell Jhon Duran to Al Nassr, Watkins proved his worth.

Watkins fell over when taking a penalty, but that moment shouldn’t cloud an excellent all-round performance that ended with a goal and two assists.

He is now Villa’s undisputed first-choice striker again, a fact that may inspire Watkins – always an arm-around-the-shoulder kind of player – to reach the heights of last season.

And as the final whistle went at Barcelona where Atalanta - the team below Villa in the table - drew 2-2, jubilant supporters at Villa Park might have started to wonder just how far they can go.

Nwaneri takes another leap forward with crucial winner

Girona 1-2 Arsenal

Ethan Nwaneri’s brilliant winning goal in Spain marks another important moment in the 17-year-old’s breakthrough season, and, despite the pressure supposedly being off Arsenal, it could prove to be a huge moment in their campaign too.

His goal, a fabulous left-footed strike from outside the box, made Nwaneri Arsenal’s third-youngest goalscorer in the Champions League, behind Cesc Fabregas and Aaron Ramsey.

“That's what we love about him,” Mikel Arteta said after the match. “That he's willing to take the initiative to make things happen. He's very aggressive when he's on the ball and so confident.”

“He made the right choice, he went for it,” Arteta added. “He's a player that has the capacity to finish from every angle, and it was a very important goal.”

It really was. Had he not scored, and Arsenal had drawn the game and finished fifth, they would be up against one of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Man City or Celtic.

Nwaneri has opened up an easier pathway to the quarter-final. At this rate, it won’t be his last major contribution to the 2024/25 Champions League season.

Chiesa stands out in Liverpool’s second string

PSV Eindhoven 3-2 Liverpool

Their three-match winning run has gone, but Liverpool and Arne Slot won’t mind.

Thanks to the strange way the competition will be drawn, the first and second-placed teams in the league phase have the same potential opponents in the last 16, meaning it made no difference whether Liverpool finished in top spot or as runners-up, a position they were guaranteed before last night.

That’s why Slot made 10 changes from the side that beat Ipswich Town 4-1 last weekend, including a full 90 minutes given to Federico Chiesa.

Chiesa grabbed the opportunity with both hands, indirectly assisting both Liverpool goals – winning the penalty for the first, and seeing Harvey Elliott score the rebound from his shot for the second – and generally causing a nuisance on the right flank.

“I have to thank the coach and the staff for giving me the chance to play 90 minutes tonight,” Chiesa told LFCTV.

“It was great because I needed it. Since I joined Liverpool, I’ve wanted to prove myself and I couldn’t for many reasons.

“We have a great team. It’s hard to play but that’s normal. I want to be here, I want to play for Liverpool, I want to challenge myself. I will be ready for the next opportunity.”

He might get more of those in the second half of the campaign as legs tire, especially if Liverpool go deep in Europe, which they just might when you look at their potential draw.