Teams finishing fifth or above in the Premier League this season are now assured of their safe passage into next season's UEFA Champions League. This comes on the back of Arsenal pummelling Real Madrid 3-0 last night, in what has been described by club legend Paul Merson as "the greatest night at the Emirates".
Mikel Arteta's team were the heavy underdogs going into the two-legged quarter-final against the boogeyman of Europe, but two exquisite Declan Rice free kicks and a wonderful finish from Spaniard Mikel Merino have handed them a 3-0 aggregate lead heading into the second leg in the Spanish capital.
What's more, France star Eduardo Camavinga was sent off in added time and will, therefore, be unavailable for Los Blancos next time out.
Arsenal fans are rightly jubilant over the result, but they aren't the only Premier League fans who should be celebrating.
Top co-efficient spot in the bag for the Premier League
Heading into the quarter-finals of UEFA's three elite competitions, England needed just one English team to win a single game to seal up the top spot in UEFA's coefficient table.
Many wouldn't have predicted Arsenal to be the team to do it, but that's just what they did as they put on a supremely impressive display and arguably placed themselves among the very favourites to win the competition itself by dispatching Carlo Ancelotti's side.
The top spot in the UEFA table means the Premier League now have at least five qualification spots, and the teams finishing between first and fifth this season will be guaranteed a place in the biggest European competition.
Italy, Spain and Germany trail behind England in the coefficient ranking, with Serie A currently second in the table, LaLiga in third and the Bundesliga in fourth.
Which Premier League team will benefit?
At the time of writing, recent Carabao Cup winners Newcastle United are in fifth place and headed for the Champions League.
However, competition is fierce. While Liverpool and Arsenal are almost certain to occupy the top two spots in the table, just six points separate Nottingham Forest in third and Aston Villa in seventh, with seven games to play. Teams as low down as Fulham in eighth may even give themselves an outside chance of sneaking into that top five.
What's more, England could have even more than five teams qualify for next season's Champions League, theoretically. If Aston Villa were to pull off a miracle and win the UCL while finishing outside the top five, they would qualify. More realistically, if Manchester United or Tottenham Hotspur lift the Europa League, they would also make it into the Champions League for next season.
There is so much left for English clubs to play for, and several are in very good positions to do something special this season for themselves and the Premier League as a whole.
