The UEFA Champions League is three games into the new League Phase after Tuesday and Wednesday's action and Aston Villa are the surprise leaders along with Liverpool with three wins from three for a 100% points total of nine. Considering that 10 points has been estimated to be enough to absolutely secure a Top 24 berth and a place in the UCL knockouts, Unai Emery and Arne Slot's men logically should have just one more point to collect from five remaining games which includes Juventus, RB Leipzig and AS Monaco for the Villans. They are not the only team catching the eye but they are arguably the most unexpected name from a host of unexpected teams to be turning up trees so far at Europe's top table along with a few more familiar faces.
We take a closer look.
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Surprise performers
Villa are certainly the pick of the clubs that you would not necessarily have put money on leading the pack after three rounds of games. However, the Birmingham-based Premier League side are enjoying a fast start to their continental adventure which has already included a famous win over Bayern Munchen at Villa Park. Slightly behind Villa in terms of sides faring surprisingly are unbeaten French pair Stade Brestois 29 and AS Monaco with both on seven points from a possible nine which is huge for Ligue 1 given Paris Saint-Germain's unexpectedly sluggish start. German champions Bayer Leverkusen have also made an unbeaten start along with Sporting CP with Manchester City and Arsenal less surprising despite the Gunners dropping two points against Atalanta BC on the opening day and the Citizens being held by Inter.
Surprise strugglers
As mentioned, PSG's loss to Arsenal put them in a tricky situation and that has been made trickier by Tuesday's 1-1 draw with PSV Eindhoven at Parc des Princes. The French champions are drifting within the Top 24 but will have expected to be closer to the top eight after two of their three opening games against Girona FC and PSV. More surprising, perhaps, is that both Red Bull sides -- Leizpig and Salzburg -- currently occupy elimination berths while Bayern, Atletico Madrid and Milan are all fairly low down compared with their early expectations. Villa and Monaco got the better of the Germans and Barcelona respectively as part of the early evidence that UEFA's format shakeup is making things interesting but this needs to be a wake up call for the Bavarians and the Italians in particular.
Coefficient storylines so far
A fascinating subplot in these early rounds of Champions League games has been the impact of the league phase on the coefficient battle. English sides are faring well in top spot which holds one of two extra UCL places for next season but the country keeping pace so far is Portugal with Sporting and Benfica boasting four combined wins already for just the two clubs despite a home loss to Feyenoord for the latter this midweek. A even bigger surprise has been Czechia's rise to fourth in those rankings with Sparta Praha still in the Top 24 after the first few rounds of games despite a thrashing from City. Just ahead of Czechia is France in third with Monaco, Lille and Brest currently outperforming PSG in this edition. Spain is rising slowly up to seventh but is already off the pace thanks to Real, Barca and Atletico all suffering unexpected losses while last year's strong performers -- Italy and Germany -- are both a bit off the pace for now.
Key 4th round games
All 3 p.m. ET
- Tuesday 5 November: Liverpool vs. Bayer Leverkusen, Real Madrid vs. Milan
- Wednesday 6 November: Inter vs. Arsenal and PSG vs. Atletico Madrid
Looking ahead to the next round of UCL games and there are some big ones lined up with Xabi Alonso's Liverpool reunion at Anfield and the evergreen classic that is Real Madrid vs. Milan on the Tuesday. Wednesday has a tasty Inter vs. Arsenal as well as PSG vs. Atletico Madrid combo on tap with Real vs. Milan and PSG vs. Atleti particularly important given those teams' results so far which have not all been as expected.
Standings
Key: Positions 1-8 qualify for Round of 16 while positions 9-24 qualify for Knockout Phase Play-Offs and positions 25-36 are eliminated.
| PosPosition | Team | GP | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | PTS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Aston Villa | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | +6 | 9 |
| 2 | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 9 |
| 3 | Manchester City | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 0 | +9 | 7 |
| 4 | Monaco | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 9 | 4 | +5 | 7 |
| 5 | Brest | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 2 | +5 | 7 |
| 6 | Bayer Leverkusen | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 7 |
| 7 | Inter | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | +5 | 7 |
| 8 | Sporting CP | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 7 |
| 9 | Arsenal | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 7 |
| 10 | Barcelona | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 3 | +7 | 6 |
| 11 | Borussia Dortmund | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 6 | +6 | 6 |
| 12 | Real Madrid | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 |
| 13 | Benfica | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 4 | +3 | 6 |
| 14 | Juventus | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 6 |
| 15 | Lille | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | +1 | 6 |
| 16 | Feyenoord | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 7 | -1 | 6 |
| 17 | Atalanta | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 5 |
| 18 | Stuttgart | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | -1 | 4 |
| 19 | PSG | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 3 | -1 | 4 |
| 20 | Celtic | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 8 | -2 | 4 |
| 21 | Sparta Praha | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 | -2 | 4 |
| 22 | Dinamo Zagreb | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 11 | -5 | 4 |
| 23 | Bayern Munich | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 7 | +3 | 3 |
| 24 | Girona | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 3 |
| 25 | AC Milan | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | -1 | 3 |
| 26 | Club Brugge | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | -4 | 3 |
| 27 | Atletico Madrid | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | -5 | 3 |
| 28 | PSV | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 |
| 29 | Bologna | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 1 |
| 30 | Shakhtar Donetsk | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 4 | -4 | 1 |
| 31 | RB Leipzig | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 0 |
| 32 | SK Sturm Graz | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 0 |
| 33 | Red Star Belgrade | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 11 | -9 | 0 |
| 34 | Young Boys | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
| 35 | RB Salzburg | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9 | -9 | 0 |
| 36 | Slovan Bratislava | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 11 | -10 | 0 |
