Champions League

But it is all rather less rosy for some big-name European clubs.

Four-time European Cup winners Ajax are propping up the table after four straight losses to start this year's campaign with two-time champions Benfica only ahead of them on goal difference.

Meanwhile, Juventus and Marseille have only three points apiece so far and Italian champions Napoli are clinging on to the final play-off spot with four points from their first four.

Image source, BBC Sport

Champions League

Halfway through the league phase and things are looking good for the English sides.

Four of the six are in the top eight - who qualify automatically for the last 16 - with Tottenham and Chelsea just outside and in the play-off spots as things stand...

Image source, BBC Sport

OK. Thanks, Adam.

Anyway, let's have a look at how the Champions League table looks after four rounds of games...

Image source, Getty Images

It was a frustrating night for Chelsea and it started as early as the sixth minute when midfielder Romeo Lavia was forced off with an injury.

The 21-year-old has struggled with injuries since joining the Blues from Southampton in 2023, making just one appearance in his first season at Stamford Bridge and 22 in the 2024-25 campaign.

Now he faces the possibility of another spell on the sidelines.

"We feel very ashamed, especially for him because he's not able to be fit for a long, long period," Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca said.

"We will see now as it's too early to understand what kind of injury. Hopefully it's not a big injury.

"I think it's a quad injury."

Leon Osman
Former Everton and England midfielder on Football Daily

Everybody will look at the manager and question whether he picked the right team, whether it was the right people at the right moment.

To then bring those reinforcements on at half-time makes you feel that he didn't think that the starting eleven going into half-time had enough to get him back in the game at that point.

You do start to wonder whether he put too much youth out there - that the blend of experience and youth wasn't exactly as it should've been.

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport reporter at Tofiq Bahramov Stadium

Image source, Getty Images

Both literally and figuratively, you never know which Chelsea is going to turn up this season.

Chelsea have lurched from negative to positive throughout this campaign, playing well against bigger teams but often not as well against so-called lesser opposition.

In big games, the likes of Moises Caicedo, Enzo Fernandez, and Garnacho usually start.

However, Maresca is managing the fitness of all three of those players, as he also is with returning striker Liam Delap. In addition, key players like Cole Palmer and Levi Colwill are injured.

There are further mitigating factors behind the extreme nature of Maresca's rotation, given Chelsea endured a 13-month season last year, due to winning the Club World Cup in July.

The Blues played 64 matches in a 53-week season last time around, with the players getting only three weeks of break and the pre-season shortened to less than two weeks.

Maresca is also not helped by the underwhelming performances by some of the players coming in.

Alongside Jorrel Hato, forwards Jamie Gittens and Tyrique George struggled, as did midfielder Andrey Santos, all of them aged 21 or younger, against a brave Qarabag side proving themselves to be Europe's giant-killers this season having already beaten Benfica and Copenhagen.

But do you think Cenk Tosun would want to come back to the Premier League, Adrian?

Image source, Getty Images

Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport reporter at Tofiq Bahramov Stadium

Are Chelsea rotating too much?

The Blues have made multiple line-up changes in all their recent matches and have tweaked the starting XI more than any other Premier League side this season.

But, after they narrowly avoided an embarrassing defeat at Champions League minnows Qarabag, there were those questioning whether they might be overdoing the changes.

The Blues, with a squad worth well over £1bn, were particularly poor in the first half, especially compared to the dominant 1-0 win away at Tottenham on Saturday. However, this was a very different starting 11.

Just goalkeeper Robert Sanchez, full-backs Reece James and Marc Cucurella, and forward Joao Pedro started in North London.

It was the fifth-consecutive match across all competitions where manager Enzo Maresca has made at least seven changes to his starting 11. No Premier League club has made more than Chelsea's 85 changes in 16 matches across all competitions this season.

The constant changing has left Maresca open to criticisms of being too much of a 'tinkerman', an unwanted nickname once given to his compatriot Claudio Ranieri at Chelsea.

Defending his approach, Maresca said: "When we make changes it is because we think the plan with the players that start is the correct one.

"I think today, we start in the right way, we score the goal and then, again, we concede two goals that we can avoid. [Also] in their box, for the amount of times that we are there, probably we can be more clinical.

"I think in the second half we were much better compared to the first, but again, every game is a chance for all of them to show the reason why they are here."

That seems like the ideal way to move things along and look at the talking points from Chelsea's draw at Qarabag last night...

Tim Krul
Former Newcastle goalkeeper on Football Daily

If you look at that Newcastle squad now there's a real fight for places and a competition there.

I think that's what Eddie Howe wants. He doesn't want anybody sitting there expecting to play every week and I think you’ve got a good mix with that leadership group.

Andy, if I wasn't so concerned about the odd looks I'd get in the office, I would be stood up and applauding.

Remarkable header. Incredible save. Outside the box thinking. Tick, tick, tick. Just a fantastic shout.

If you haven't seen it, folks, I highly recommend searching it out.

Newcastle have only won four league games on their travels in 2025 and they have looked especially blunt of late.

Howe's side have scored a quarter as many goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy's opener against West Ham was a rare example of this side being ruthless away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had struck the post.

Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe's team have had 30 fewer touches in the opposition box (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which highlights the difficulties they have faced breaking teams down.

Newcastle could at least fall back on their solidity as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following shutouts against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.

But the visitors have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That defensive effort starts with the press from the front, but Newcastle have won possession back on eight fewer occasions (16) away than at home (24), while much-lauded midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been repeatedly bypassed on the road in recent weeks.

Burn has spoken of the need to "be a bit more ugly", referencing how his side were "well-known a few years ago for something-housery".

Tim Krul
Former Newcastle goalkeeper on Football Daily

Newcastle want to challenge in every single competition - quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup, three wins on the bounce in the Champions League.

Domestically they have to improve, they know that but I think they'll be right up there towards the end of the season.