Arsenal and Newcastle United are both top eight in the Champions League table, heading into the eighth and final round of matches in the Swiss League stage.
The Gunners already guaranteed a spot in the last 16 after a perfect seven wins from seven.
Arsenal are home on Wednesday to very bottom of the Champions League table, Kairat Almaty, needing only a point to guarantee they finish top after the final round of games.
Newcastle United already guaranteed at least a play-off spot, whilst knowing a win away to PSG will see them also automatically qualify for the last 16.
Eddie Howe’s team currently seventh in the Champions League table and will move ahead of PSG, amongst others hopefully, if/when winning in Paris.
These are Newcastle United’s seven Champions League matches so far this season:
Newcastle 1 Barcelona 2
Union S-G 0 Newcastle 4
Newcastle 3 Benfica 0
Newcastle 2 Athletic Club Bilbao 0
Marseille 2 Newcastle 1
Bayer Leverkusen 2 Newcastle 2
Newcastle 3 PSV 0
Arsenal have quite rightly had a lot of praise coming their way in the Champions League this season.
However, I haven’t seen Newcastle United getting the praise they deserve when it comes to one particular stat, one where only Arsenal have outperformed them, out of all the Champions League clubs.
Champions League goals conceded in the opening seven rounds of games:
2 Arsenal
6 Newcastle United
7 Bayern Munich, Spurs, Inter Milan
8 Real Madrid, Liverpool, Chelsea
9 Sporting Lisbon, Barcelona, Atalanta
10 PSG, Juventus
13 Manchester City, Atletico Madrid
15 Borussia Dortmund
The above are the top 16 in the Champions League table currently, all of the other 20 clubs have also conceded more goals than Eddie Howe’s side.
The Newcastle United team have been excellent overall when it comes to defending in the competition so far.
Aaron Ramsdale conceded two at Bayer Leverkusen.
Whilst Nick Pope has managed an impressive four clean sheets and conceded four goals in total in his six Champions League appearances so far.
A fifth clean sheet for Nick Pope and his Newcastle United defence on Wednesday night in Paris, then every chance United will be celebrating automatic progress to the last 16.
How the Champions League table looks on Saturday 24 January 2026 ahead of Wednesday’s final round of matches:
The final 18 eighth round matches to kick-off at 8pm (GMT) on Wednesday 28 January
Ajax v Olympiakos
Arsenal v Kairat Almaty
Athletic Club Bilbao v Sporting Lisbon
Atletico Madrid v Bodo/Glimt
Barcelona v Copenhagen
Bayer Leverkusen v Villarreal
Benfica v Real Madrid
Borussia Dortmund v Inter Milan
Club Brugge v Marseille
Eintracht Frankfurt v Spurs
Liverpool v Qarabag
Man City v Galatasaray
Monaco v Juventus
Napoli v Chelsea
PSV v Bayern Munich
Pafos v Slavia Praha
PSG v Newcastle United
Union S-G v Atalanta