Liverpool & West Ham defeats damage England's hope of securing five UCL spots

Any hopes of a fifth Premier League side earning a Champions League spot have been left hanging by a thread after European defeats for Liverpool and West Ham United.

Next season's expanded Champions League will feature 36 clubs rather than the 32 this term, with two countries contributing five clubs apiece based on their league finish. The identity of those countries will be determined by European performances this season, with the Premier League only the third-best after Thursday's games.

In order to find the relevant 'European Performance Score', the total coefficient points attained by clubs from one league is divided by the number of representatives from that competition. The Premier League could yet secure the highest total, but Thursday's results made that difficult.

West Ham, last season's Conference League winners, conceded two late goals against Bayer Leverkusen in Germany. It was an even worse night for Liverpool, who were beaten 3-0 at home by Atalanta and face an uphill struggle in the return leg in Italy.

Ahead of Thursday's games, Italy topped the rankings with an average of 17.714 points. Germany sat second with 16.357, with England on 16.250.

Serie A has no remaining sides in the Champions League, but there were Europa League wins for Atalanta against Liverpool and Roma at AC Milan, while Fiorentina drew with Viktoria Plzen in the Conference League. That takes Italy's average to a huge 18.428, according to the UEFA site.

It was a mixed bag for Germany, with Leverkusen's win accompanied by a Champions League draw for Bayern Munich against Arsenal and a defeat for Dortmund at Atletico Madrid in the same competition. Aston Villa were the Premier League's only winners, beating Lille in the Conference League, with