Pep Guardiola is confident his Manchester City side will book their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League as a new route potentially opens up for Newcastle United.

Manchester City must beat Club Brugge at the Etihad on Wednesday night to finish in the top 24 of the league phase table. Anything less will see the 2023 winners eliminated.

So what has that got to do with Newcastle? Well, if Manchester City progress, the Premier League would be the only division with a full complement of teams left in the the Champions League, which would boost the top-flight's chances of having an extra place in next season's competition.

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Given the coefficient rankings at the moment - England are first on 17.017, Italy are second on 15.312 and Spain are third on 13.928 - it would take an almighty swing in the final months of the season for the Premier League not to claim one of the two bonus spots awarded to the countries who perform best in UEFA competitions this season if Manchester City, Aston Villa, Liverpool and Arsenal all make it through.

That's why there is a lot riding on Wednesday night - in so many ways. Manchester City have only won two of their seven Champions League games this season, and are facing an in-form Club Brugge side, but Guardiola is understandably backing his team to secure a two-legged playoff for a place in the round of 16.

"I know all the people are concerned about what's going to happen if we don't qualify," the Catalan said. "I appreciate your concern, but I'm thinking we're going to do it."

Newcastle currently sit in fifth place in the Premier League, which would be enough to qualify for the Champions League if an extra spot is awarded, but the Magpies are just taking one game at a time as Eddie Howe's side look to finish as high as they can.

"We have never talked about anything and that's important to remember," Howe added. "There's always overreactions to everything so overreactions to winning and overreactions to losing, which are created by outside influences.

"For us, we just have to focus on trying to win the next game and finding our momentum and rhythm again. We need to do that very quickly."