ANALYSE THIS: PSG more likely to progress than historic results suggest

FOOTBALL – The Champions League first legs have all been played and the favourites to progress generally look in good shape to do so. There are two common ways to assess what the likelihood of going through actually is – the first uses historical results and calculates the frequency with which teams recording a particular result went through. The second uses a statistical model based on team ratings to assess the chances of progress. The two methods give broadly the same chance for each of the four ties won by the away team but if a match is drawn or results in a narrow home win, the chances from the two methods begin to diverge.

ANALYSE THIS: Premier League rich but performs below par

FOOTBALL – The Deloitte Money League has been released and unsurprisingly, the Euro Club Index ranking, which rates clubs based on performance, is highly correlated with this annual ranking of wealth. Four of the top-five clubs on the Deloitte list are also in the Euro Club Index top-10. Manchester United are the big exception at third in the Money League but ranked only 13^th by the Euro Club Index. Another Premier League club, Liverpool, are the ninth richest in the world but are currently only just hanging onto a place in the Euro Club Index top-25. All nine Premier League clubs in Deloitte’s top-20 richest are ranked lower by the Euro Club Index.

IN THE NEWS: Sevilla 4th Spanish team in 2015/2016 CL

FOOTBALL – With Sevilla FC winning the Europa League final, they have automatically qualified for the 2015/2016 Champions League group stage, making it the fourth Spanish side among the 22 teams already qualified for next season’s CL main tournament.

THE WAVE: United v City

FOOTBALL – Manchester United defeated Manchester City 4-2 in the Premier League on Sunday. The wave shows a great start by City, including scoring the opener, but after United scored the equaliser in the 18th minute, City was nowhere to be found.

REVIEW: English exodus in Europe greatest in 22 years

FOOTBALL –  Everton’s elimination by Dynamo Kyiv means that thee are no English teams left in Europe this season.  For the first time in 22 years, there will not be a single English club in the quarterfinals of the various European cup competitions. Ever since 1992/93, England have always sent at least one representative to the last eight in Europe. The seven English sides that embarked on their European adventure this season were Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Everton, Tottenham Hotspur and Hull City.

THE WAVE: FC Barcelona – Manchester City

FOOTBALL – Holding the advantage from the first leg (2-1 away win), FC Barcelona could afford to sit back and hit Manchester City on the break. City goalkeeper Joe Hart made a season record 10 saves.

ANALYSE THIS: Is Experience a Denominator for Success?

FOOTBALL – How important is experience for a team’s success? Do teams with more experienced players perform better in the league or do they benefit more from fresh, new players? While ‘experience’ is a difficult concept to actually capture in numbers, we came up with a simple way of trying to compare experience with success, taking the 2014/15 Premier League as an example.

THE WAVE: Manchester City v FC Barcelona

FOOTBALL – FC Barcelona defeated Manchester City 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium in the Champions League on Tuesday. The wave shows a very effective Barcelona in the first half with two goals after 30 minutes. Man City showed nothing in the first half after the opening 10 minutes. The first half hour of the second half was all City’s, but they converted only once. After their goal, they hardly pressed anymore and were lucky Barcelona did not score a third goal.

REVIEW: Man City win 11 in a row against Newcastle

FOOTBALL – Manchester City beat Newcastle United 5-0 to claim their 11th league win in a row against the Magpies. In Europe’s top five leagues Chelsea hold the record for most consecutive wins against a specific club. See table below.

ANALYSE THIS: The Ageing Game

FOOTBALL – Manchester City opened its new £200 million academy in December 2014 but young talents have been given very little opportunity at City in recent seasons. A new piece of research by Infostrada Sports’ Head of Analysis Simon Gleave looks at how the age structures of teams in the Premier League have changed and why Manchester City are probably on the verge of needing a serious change in order to sustain their success of recent years.