Does fifth place in the Premier League get Champions League football this season?

A place in the Champions League is still a realistic target for a lot of Premier League teams this season.

The race to finish in a spot that will seal a place in UEFA's premier competition is wide open.

What is helping these teams is that because Aston Villa, Arsenal and Liverpool have performed so well in the current edition, we could have five teams in the Champions League next year.

Does fifth place in the Premier League get Champions League football?

As it stands, England will have an additional Champions League place because they are top of the UEFA coefficient table.

And as UEFA rules stipulate, the top two countries at the end of the campaign get an extra Champions League spot.

But things could still drastically change between now and the end of the year.

One thing to consider is that an extra place in the Champions League depends on all European performances.

Therefore, Manchester United and Tottenham directly impact the teams chasing the Champions League.

How does the coefficient table work?

UEFA's coefficient system is based on each country's overall European performances, so the fact Villa, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Man United have reached the knockout rounds is great news for those wanting an extra place.

A win is worth two points, a draw is one, and you get zero for a loss.

Penalty shootouts are not considered, meaning if it goes all the way, each team gets a point.

The points are then added together and divided by the number of clubs competing in Europe that season.

You don't get extra points for winning in the Champions League, so Villa beating Bayern Munich was worth the same amount of points as Chelsea's home win over Gent.

However, there is a bonus system in place, which makes Champions League progress more valuable.

Each team that competes in the Champions League gets a minimum of six bonus points.

By comparison, only the top Europa League team gets six, while there is a maximum of 18 up for grabs for the Champions League teams.

Then, as the knockout rounds progress, there will be more bonus points available.

Under the new system, it is even possible for there to be seven teams in the Champions League from one country.

This would be if a team fails to finish in their country's Champions League spots but win the UCL or Europa League.

That is extremely unlikely, but it could happen with Villa struggling to finish in one of the Champions League spots, while Tottenham and Man United's chances are all but gone.

With the group stages in all of the European competitions now over, the final coefficient table is shaping up.

From here, it would take a monumental collapse for England to miss out on an extra Champions League place, while Spain are also in a very strong place.

Italy lost Atalanta, AC Milan and Juventus in the Champions League play-off round, while if Roma or Fiorentina go out, Italy basically wouldn't be able to catch England or Spain.

Germany have a slight chance, but they will lose one of Bayern or Bayer Leverkusen as they've been drawn against each other in the Champions League.

Meanwhile, France, Portugal, Belgium and the Netherlands have lost too many clubs.