Champions League: Manchester City and Arsenal lead the charge, but it's Monte Carlo or bust for struggling Spurs

It looks like the Premier League will boast three representatives in the last-16, but Tottenham's woeful Wembley form looks set to consign Mauricio Pochettino to another Europa League tilt

Pep Guardiola and Arsene Wenger represent England's best chance in the Champions League (Getty)

These are heady days for English football in the Premier League – Barcelona being put to the sword by Manchester City, Leicester City unbeaten and yet to concede a goal in Group G and Arsenal romping into the knock-out stages with two games to spare.

Heady days? Ok, perhaps that would be falling into the modern-day trap of labelling everything as amazingly good or the worst of the worst – Tottenham Hotspur’s Champions League form, perhaps? – but to have one club already booked in for the draw for the round of 16 and two others just one positive result away from joining them later this month is good news for the English game.

It is a sign of progress, or a hint of a return to the last decade when the Premier League dominated the latter stages of the Champions League, to see Arsenal, City and Leicester sail so relatively untroubled into the knock-out stages.

City have had their difficulties – drawing against Celtic and losing 4-0 to Barcelona – but a point against Borussia Monchengladbach will be enough to take them into the next round with a game to spare, so Pep Guardiola’s players have hardly endured the struggle that Spurs are continuing to endure.

Tottenham must now win away to AS Monaco in three weeks’ time to have any realistic hope of avoiding the Europa League and emerging from Group E, but Mauricio Pochettino’s team could yet win their last two games and cruise into the knock-out stages.

But after four rounds of fixtures in the group stages, with one club through and two others close to joining them, is English football ready to produce a Champions League winner again?

Or will normal service be resumed in the new year, with the usual suspects from Spain and Germany once again fighting it out as they have done since Chelsea became the Premier League’s most recent European champions in 2012?

Arsenal have made easy work of Group A and Arsene Wenger’s team go into the home fixture against Paris Saint-Germain later this month knowing that a win will guarantee top spot and a place among the seeds in the round of 16 draw.

Whether that will count for much this time remains to be seen. With Bayern Munich and Real Madrid currently sitting in second spot in Groups D and F respectively, Wenger’s team could win their group and end up travelling to the Allianz Arena or Santiago Bernabeu in February.

However, the flip side would be much more preferable ties against the likes of Benfica or Porto, so top spot remains an advantage, if Arsenal can enjoy some good fortune along the way in the draw.

But has Wenger ironed out the flaws that continue to compromise his team in Europe?

Defensively, Arsenal repeatedly fail to deliver in the Champions League, but they have only conceded three goals in Group A, against albeit limited opposition.

In the one game against an established European force, Arsenal failed to defeat PSG in Paris, so the question marks over their true strength remain.

They have scored goals aplenty, however, with 12 in four group games, so they will always offer a threat – but only time will tell if they can bolt the door against Barcelona or Bayern.

Arsenal have already qualified for the last-16 and can finish top by beating PSG (Getty)

Manchester City may provide England’s best hope of success.

Tuesday’s 3-1 victory against Barcelona was a seminal moment for the club in Europe, one which will perhaps resonate even more than their run to the semi-finals under Manuel Pellegrini last season.

Beating Barcelona was a significant moment in terms of the psychological barrier that it will have lifted from the eyes of everyone connected to the club.

Manchester City will be filled with confidence from defeating Barcelona (Getty)

During the 1990s, Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United had struggled to overcome Juventus, Europe’s dominant force at the time, but a 3-2 victory at Old Trafford in October 1997 changed the mindset of the players and imbued the squad with the belief which ultimately resulted in the Treble less than two years later.

Overcoming Barcelona, who had won their five previous games against City, will give Guardiola’s players similar confidence. Put simply, City have now beaten the most feared team in the world, having also enjoyed wins against Bayern and PSG, so there is nothing out there for them to fear.

In Guardiola, they have a coach who knows how to win the Champions League and the squad is a mix of experience and dazzling potential.

City’s Achilles heel is their defensive concentration away from home, however. They have conceded seven goals in two games against Celtic and Barcelona, so Guardiola must correct that issue before the knock-out stages.

But the reality is that City are making progress and they are the Premier League’s strongest contender this season.

Guardiola knows how to win the Champions League (Getty)

Leicester? Wednesday’s 0-0 draw against FC Copenhagen in Denmark extended their remarkable run of not conceding in the Champions League and Claudio Ranieri’s team will qualify for the knock-out stages with a point at home to Club Brugge later this month.

A win in Copenhagen would have secured top spot in Group G, but that remains within their grasp, so the competition has certainly been a success story for Leicester.

But goals are proving hard to come by and Jamie Vardy continues to search for his first in the Champions League.

Since hitting three past Club Brugge in the opening game, Leicester have scored just twice in three games against Porto and Copenhagen and they rarely looked like scoring in Denmark.

A blunt edge offers little hope of progression deep into the competition, so it is difficult to foresee a run beyond the round of 16 for Leicester, unless Ranieri’s team enjoy luck in the draw.

Kasper Schmeichel's fine form helped Leicester secure a point in Copenhagen (Getty)

They will be hard to beat, but Leicester’s Champions League dream could come to a shuddering halt if they end up facing the likes of Real or Bayern in the next round.

Still, Tottenham Hotspur would give anything to trade positions with Leicester right now.

Four games into their group campaign and Spurs are struggling to keep their head above water after suffering two home defeats at Wembley against Monaco and Bayer Leverkusen.

Pochettino admitted he was 'embarrassed' by Tottenham's failure at Wembley (Getty)

The move to Wembley was unavoidable due to building work at White Hart Lane, but the unfamiliar surroundings and injuries to key men such as Harry Kane and Toby Alderweireld have conspired to leave the club on the verge of elimination later this month.

It really has become a case of Monte Carlo or bust for Spurs, with anything but a victory against Monaco leaving them heading for the Europa League.

The positive outlook is that a win in the Principality would leave Spurs needing only a final game victory at home to CSKA Moscow to qualify, but their campaign has barely got going, so there is little scope for optimism.

Having scored just two goals in four games, it is not difficult to identify Tottenham’s biggest problem and time is running out to resolve it.

Can English clubs really prevent the Spanish and German clubs from dominating again (Getty)

They remain alive, just, so a dramatic escape remains a possibility, just as Arsenal managed last season when they came back from an even more perilous position to qualify.

But at this stage, it appears as though England will have three, rather than four, teams in the knock-out stages in the new year.

Can any of them win it? Arsenal have the firepower and City have the growing belief and Guardiola, but it still feels as though Cardiff will host a final at the end of the season with teams from Spain and Germany the most likely competitors.