Arsenal drop to ninth in the Champions League table
Arsenal went to bed on Tuesday night in ninth place in the Champions League table without kicking a ball, after Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Sporting CP all won and jumped above them. Arsenal have played one game fewer than every club that passed them, they are unbeaten after three matches, and they have conceded only twice.
But ninth is the first spot outside the automatic places for the last 16, and Mikel Arteta's side now head to Prague on Wednesday knowing exactly what is on the line. The good news is that the maths is simple.
Win at Slavia Prague and the Gunners climb back into the top eight, whatever else happens on Wednesday night. How Tuesday night changed the Arsenal Champions League table Nine games were played on Tuesday, and three of the results hit Arsenal directly.
Barcelona beat Aston Villa 3-0 at Camp Nou, with Lamine Yamal scoring early and Raphinha adding two more. Bayern, who drew 2-2 with Arsenal in Munich last month, won 2-0 at Atletico Madrid through Lennart Karl and Konrad Laimer.
Sporting CP won 1-0 away at Shakhtar. Before kick-off, all three sat below Arsenal's seven points.
By full-time, Barcelona and Sporting were on nine and Bayern on eight. This is how the top ten looks after Tuesday's games: Pos Club Played Points 1 PSG 4 12 2 Barcelona 4 9 3 Aston Villa 4 9 4 Liverpool 3 9 5 Real Madrid 3 9 6 Sporting CP 4 9 7 Real Betis 3 9 8 Bayern Munich 4 8 9 Arsenal 3 7 10 Stuttgart 4 7 The top eight go straight into the last 16.
Ninth to 24th go into the knockout play-off round, which means two extra games that nobody at Arsenal wants. PSG are out on their own Paris Saint-Germain are the only side with a perfect record.
They thrashed Villarreal 6-0 in Spain, with Fabian Ruiz scoring twice and Joao Neves, Desire Doue, Senny Mayulu and 17-year-old David Boly also on the scoresheet. Their fourth goal arrived after 16 minutes and two seconds, the fastest any team has ever scored four in a Champions League game.
That makes four wins from four for the holders, with 20 goals scored. Arsenal are not going to catch them for first place any time soon, and they do not need to.