Is the Premier League back? Manchester United, City, Liverpool and Co are leading the way in Europe again - but why?

Sat in the glossy comfort of the spaceship-like headquarters of BT Sport, just a stone's throw away from Westfield Shopping Centre and the London Stadium, Gary Lineker leans back in his chair, scratches his face and opens his mouth to speak.

“It’s only a matter of time,” he says. "I'm almost convinced that we'll see the next superstars come to our league and our big clubs will be the Barcelonas and Real Madrids of tomorrow. It might take a year, two years, three years, but I think it will happen."

You could be forgiven for thinking that Lineker was speaking in the wake of another thumping European week for England's elite clubs, a week that saw Liverpool hammer Maribor 7-0, Tottenham hold Real Madrid at the Bernabeu and Manchester City beat Serie A leaders Napoli 2-1.

But Lineker made his prediction more than a year ago, at a time when Pep Guardiola was finding his feet at the Etihad, when Jose Mourinho was surveying the lay of the land at Old Trafford and when the Premier League was still coming to terms with Leicester's historic title success. Fast forward 12 months and Lineker’s words have proved surprisingly prescient.

Indeed, England’s European representatives are throwing themselves head first into life on the continent - and making a good go of it. The five team's collective record so far confirms as much: P15, W11, D4, L0, F44, A11.

Of course, the hard cold statistics often brush over the smaller details that enrich the story, like fine threads of cloth in an old medieval tapestry. Step back and you appreciate the greater picture, step closer and you understand why.

At the heart of this English renaissance is the idea that the grand plans of the Premier League’s schemers have finally come to fruition. Guardiola, Mauricio Pochettino and Mourinho all have the teams they want - and it shows.

After a year of tinkering and tweaking at the Etihad, Guardiola looks to have finally settled upon his winning formula. Manchester City’s front men have undoubtedly dominated the headlines but the side’s backline has taken the most steps forward this season. With Stones increasingly more assured at centre-back, City have conceded just six goals from their opening 12 games - five less than they did this time last year. The pieces of the puzzle are falling into place, with the blue half of Manchester now on course for the latter stages of the Champions League.

Indeed, City’s hard-fought win over Napoli highlights this idea of progression. “This wasn’t an easy game,” Kevin de Bruyne reflected afterwards. Napoli had two penalties and only John Stones’s diving interception prevented Marek Hamsik from equalising. But there's a sense that City wouldn't have got the same result one year ago. They would have fumbled, tripped over their own feet and conceded a late goal. Instead, City’s new-found resilience saw them through to the end.

It's a similar story in N17. Last year Tottenham were too young, too raw, too inexperienced to make any real headway in the competition. But having learned their lessons, and with an impressive home win over Dortmund under their belts, alongside this week's impressive 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu - in which Pochettino's brightest stars shined with big-game experience - Spurs seemingly now have the legs to go far.

Under the power of the Argentine’s trust, Tottenham are thriving. Harry Winks is a testament to this. On the biggest night of his career, in front of 76,589 people at Real’s iconic stadium, Pochettino made sure to pull the youngster to one side before delivering a simple message: “Play your natural game.” It’s a message that has resonated throughout the side, with his men unafraid to express themselves on the pitch. The discipline, desire and defiance are still there, but there’s a unique verve and confidence to this side which will only bode well in the long European nights to come.

For all the criticism he has faced, Mourinho is similarly a man who knows what’s he doing and is reaping the rewards of his experimental first year. Manchester United’s meat-and-potatoes approach hasn’t exactly set the competition alight but it’s got the job done – and that’s all that will matter to Mourinho.

This shouldn’t overlook the side’s shortcomings. Against bigger and better teams, United’s weak points will undoubtedly be laid bare. In a soft group Mourinho’s men were always guaranteed qualification to the knock-out stages but, after that, it’s unclear how far they’ll progress. There’s only so much the reliability of Nemanja Matic or the dynamism of Marcus Rashford can help Mourinho’s men. Paul Pogba’s presence is missed but, even once he returns to the side, it’s unlikely the glass ceiling will be broken.

Liverpool’s 7-0 defeat of Maribor also represented something of a light-bulb moment for Jurgen Klopp, who has spent the last two years at Anfield attempting to implement his heavy-metal style of football. The German had said himself that the underlying performances were there – in draws against Sevilla and Spartak Moscow – and that the goals would come - which they finally did on Tuesday night. Out of England’s five, Liverpool’s position is the most precarious but this week’s result can now be used as a launch pad from which to propel themselves forward in the competition.

Away from the grand designs of the managers, the Premier League has its own world-class talent to shout about. Kevin de Bruyne and Eden Hazard, namely, are both in the form of their lives and this has paid dividends for their respective clubs.

The former has been consistently excellent in City’s three European wins while it took the magic touch of the latter to raise Chelsea to new heights against Atletico – and lift them out of worrying lows against Roma on Wednesday night. In these two players, Chelsea and City have their very own Cristiano Ronaldos and Lionel Messis to seize a game by the scruff of the neck and make the difference when it matters most.

There’s also the sense that a new transition is taking place. The Champions League has been largely cyclical in terms of where European hegemony lies, with Italian, English and Spanish clubs drifting in and out of power on the continent over the last 20 years.

After almost five years of supremacy, could Spain’s stranglehold on the competition be coming to an end? Atletico Madrid’s defeat by Chelsea suggested they are no longer look the side they once were while Real Madrid, certainly in La Liga at least, have started to show signs of fatigue.

Elsewhere, Borussia Dortmund are struggling to reinvent themselves as Europe’s dark horses while Paris Saint-Germain find themselves in the same position United and City did this time last year. They have the talent and firepower, no doubt, but it could be a case of too much too soon for the French giants.

Taking into account all these factors, it seems the stars have aligned for England's clubs - which is why now is the time to strike, to make the most of this small window which has opened up. If they fail, who knows how long before the grinding, whirring European cycle presents the Premier League with this opportunity again.

If they succeed, though, it's take to start taking Lineker's predictions that bit more seriously.