Matchday five: the table the English four carry
The Champions League league phase returns on 24 and 25 November with four English clubs in action, and the table after four matches has already sorted them. Arsenal are third on ten points, Manchester City seventh and Liverpool eighth on nine, and Manchester United seventeenth on six. Paris Saint-Germain lead with 12 points and a goal difference of plus 15.
Four matches is a small sample, but it is enough to divide 36 clubs into bands. Only PSG and Real Madrid have won all four. Nine clubs have nine points, from Como in fourth to Borussia Dortmund in twelfth, and goal difference alone separates them. That is the band three of the English clubs are trying to leave, and the band United are trying to reach.
Arsenal's defensive base
Arsenal have three wins and a draw, eight goals scored and three conceded. Arsenal have conceded three, the fewest in the competition. Their goal difference of plus five is smaller than Como's plus 13 because they have not turned control into goals, but the table measures points, and ten from 12 is the third-best return in the field, behind PSG and Real Madrid.
They host Borussia Dortmund on 24 November at 20:00. Dortmund have the same nine points, seven goals scored and five conceded, and a goal difference of plus two. It is the closest thing to a direct test of the two bands: third against twelfth, with the same points and different arithmetic.
City and Liverpool: same points, different games
City have scored 12 and conceded seven in four matches. Liverpool have scored 14 and conceded ten. Same nine points, different shape: Liverpool's four games have produced 24 goals, City's 19. City's plus five and Liverpool's plus four are the margin between seventh and eighth, which is also the margin between a direct place in the last 16 and a play-off tie in February.
City host Napoli, who are 27th with three points, one win from four, six scored and 11 conceded. Liverpool travel to Club Brugge, ninth on nine points with 11 scored and seven conceded. On the numbers, Liverpool's is the harder fixture: Brugge have the same points as Liverpool and a goal difference one goal worse.
United's even record
United are seventeenth with six points from two wins and two defeats, eight goals scored and eight conceded. They are the only English club in the competition without a draw and the only one with a goal difference of zero. In a league phase decided by fine margins, an even record is the definition of mid-table.
They go to Sporting CP on 25 November at 20:00. Sporting are tenth on nine points, eight scored and four conceded. A win would take United to nine and into the pack; a defeat leaves them on six with four matches played and the table tightening above them.
The numbers behind the four
The table below compares the four English clubs with their matchday five opponents. All figures are from the league phase after four matches.
| Pos | Team | P | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Arsenal | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3 | 10 |
| 12 | Borussia Dortmund | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 5 | 9 |
| 7 | Manchester City | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 7 | 9 |
| 27 | Napoli | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 11 | 3 |
| 8 | Liverpool | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 10 | 9 |
| 9 | Club Brugge | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 11 | 7 | 9 |
| 17 | Manchester United | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 8 | 8 | 6 |
| 10 | Sporting CP | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | 9 |
Read down the points column and the split is clear. Arsenal are two points from the top and four clear of the play-off places. City and Liverpool are level with their opponents and cannot afford to lose ground in a band of nine clubs separated by goal difference. United are three points behind the group they need to catch, with a worse goal difference than every side above them on the same or more points.
What matchday five can change
The top eight go directly to the last 16, and clubs from ninth to 24th go into a two-legged play-off. With four matches left, eighth and ninth are level on points and goal difference, and eighth and seventeenth by three points. That is the whole competition compressed into a column.
Arsenal can reach 13 points, which would put them above PSG if the leaders drop points at home to Roma. City can reach 12 and would move above Dortmund on points if Arsenal beat the German side. Liverpool's trip to Brugge is the only fixture on the two nights where both teams start on the same total. United's match is the only one where the English club starts behind its opponent.
The English schedule
The four fixtures, all times UK:
- 24 November, 20:00: Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund.
- 24 November, 20:00: Manchester City v Napoli.
- 25 November, 20:00: Club Brugge v Liverpool.
- 25 November, 20:00: Sporting CP v Manchester United.
Arsenal and City play at 20:00 on 24 November, Liverpool and United at 20:00 on 25 November. The Champions League section carries the competition table after each night, and the tables page has the domestic numbers for all four clubs, including Arsenal's 27 points from ten Premier League games and United's eight.
Two of the four are at home and two are away. Dortmund and Club Brugge start within a point of the English clubs they face; Napoli and Sporting do not. On those numbers, matchday five is less about separation at the top than about which of the nine-point clubs can stay in the band that avoids a play-off.