Resolute Premier League defences hold strong in Champions League

Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Aston Villa are all doing well to avoid the Champions League 'play-off' places.

The top eight spots allow for automatic qualification for the round of 16 and every Premier League club feature in the first eight places, except for Mikel Arteta's side, who are ninth on goal difference - three goals for and none against. With five games to go, they still have plenty of time to move up the table.

Aston Villa (wins over Young Boys, Bayern Munich and Bologna) and Liverpool are the only two sides on a maximum of nine points. 

The Reds also defeated Bologna, a fixture they faced after beating Milan at the San Siro and before taking on RB Leipzig.

Milan are the only side to have found the net against Premier League opposition so far this season, with Christian Pulisic finding the net against Liverpool.

Arsenal have been clinical when needed and very strong at the back; 0-0 at Atalanta, 2-0 over Paris Saint-Germain and 1-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk. 

Their backline will be tested again on the next matchday in a very difficult game away to Inter. Slightly 'easier' fixtures against Sporting, Monaco, Dinamo Zagreb and Girona will follow.

Manchester City are yet to concede either, which is somewhat surprising as they do tend to ship goals. It is true, however, that they have played a couple of fairly easy games against Slovan Bratislava (0-4) and Sparta Prague (5-0).

Before that, the 2022 champions kicked off their European campaign with an evenly matched 0-0 draw against Inter.