Critics are saying the Premier League teams are struggling when it comes to playing against top clubs of Europe. Well, it may be too early to write off teams from Europe's most competitive league.

For instance, of the four teams shown the exit door, three were not expected to go beyond the round-of-16. Chelsea are struggling, inconsistency remains a bane for the expensively-assembled team, and Tottenham Hotspur's form is so woeful that they are now fighting to beat the drop in the league.

Manchester City are yet to find a replacement for Kevin De Bruyne and Pep Guardiola's men are a team in transition at this point in time.

Newcastle, to be fair to them, were competitive against Barcelona in three halves over two legs. It was just that they were blown away in the second half of the second leg at Camp Nou on Wednesday as Barcelona banged in four goals to run away as 7-2 winners. Also, two penalties, Barca's late equaliser at St James last week and the one in the injury-time of the first half on Tuesday that made the score 3-2, left Eddie Howe's men shattered.

The two teams carrying the Premier League flag are Liverpool and Arsenal. While Liverpool have a tougher task as they face defending champions PSG in the quarter-finals, Arsenal take on Sporting CP. PSG had taken care of Liverpool in the last-16 last season, but it will not be as easy as the way they bossed over Chelsea in the last two weeks.

Both Arsenal and Liverpool have domestic challenges in April when the quarter-finals are played. Arsenal are dreaming of winning the Premier League title after ages, while Liverpool are battling to stay in the top-five. Arsenal are also in contention in the FA Cup and League Cup and how Mikel Arteta handles his ammunition on all four fronts will decide the season for the Gunners.

"The Premier League is so competitive that coaches cannot afford to rotate players. That takes a toll on the players when they go to Europe," Rennedy Singh, coach of ISL side Bengaluru FC said.

Five of the six English clubs were in the top eight when the league phase ended, whereas teams like PSG and Real Madrid came through the playoffs. As luck would have it, City got 15-time European champions Real Madrid again, and Chelsea were against PSG.

The Premier League organisers also need to bend the rules to suit the clubs. For example, the league was the last amongst the top-five European leagues (La Liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Serie A) to embrace five-player substitutions in 2022-23.

In the 2022 Champions League semi-finals, against Real Madrid, City were clearly struggling to keep pace in the later minutes of the second half. Reason? The Premier League was still with the three-player sub rule, whereas the Spanish League had already changed the regulations. The next year, once the five-sub rule came into practice in the league, City went on to win their maiden Champions League title.

The last-eight have three from Spain. Of those, one will be out as Barcelona meet Atletico Madrid. Real face a tough challenge in Bayern Munich. But watch out for Arsenal and Liverpool.