Thursday 17 March 2016 13:35, UK
The Premier League now cannot lose their fourth Champions League spot for the 2017/18 season following Juventus' exit from Europe.
Juventus' elimination after the 6-4 aggregate defeat by Bayern Munich on Wednesday night means Italy have one club left in Europe in the form of Lazio, while England have Manchester City plus at least one other in the Europa League.
England are currently 3.97 coefficients points ahead of Italy in the coefficients standings, and with Lazio only able to gain a maximum of 2.5 points as they face Sparta Prague in the Europa League on Thursday, England's place is secure.
For England to lose their fourth place, Italy would have had to out-perform Premier League clubs in order to sneak into a top-three spot in the rankings.
England have currently extended their lead over Italy by 0.875 points, but with the scores taken over a five-year run, under-performance next season could be detrimental for the 2018/19 season.
Italy will claw back 3.893 points on England when the 2011/12 season is knocked off the run of five seasons in the summer.
How do you gain 'points'?
Each team gets two points for a win in either European competition and one point for a draw, though points are halved for matches in the qualifying and play-off rounds.
Clubs that reach the last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals or final of the Champions League, or the quarter-finals, semi-finals or final of the Europa League, are awarded an extra point for each round.
In addition, four points are awarded for participation in the group stage of the Champions League and four points for qualifying for the last 16.
The total amount of points a country gains is then divided by the number of clubs representing that country.
