The new league phase of this season's expanded Champions League is all set for a frantic conclusion on Wednesday, as 18 matches are played simultaneously across Europe, with 16 games having something at stake. Meanwhile, the likes of Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain will be battling to avoid an early exit.

* Liverpool and Barcelona are the only two teams guaranteed to be in the top eight, with The Reds even confirming a top-two finish.

* Arsenal are all but certain to make the top eight -- the spots for automatically qualifying to the last 16. However, the unlikely scenario in which Arsenal would finish out of the top eight includes them losing to Girona on Wednesday and at least 11 other teams' results working out in a particular way.

* Inter Milan would only need a point against visitors Monaco to guarantee a top-eight spot.

* Meanwhile, Inter, Atletico Madrid, Bayer Leverkusen, and AC Milan are guaranteed to make the play-off round (top 24).

* A win at home against Celtic will see Aston Villa, placed ninth in the standings, overtake any of the four teams above them if they fail to win and qualify for the last 16 directly.

* Each of LOSC Lille, Borussia Dortmund, Bayern Munich, Brest, Monaco, Real Madrid, and Juventus would require a win and a handful of other results to go their way to jump up into the top eight, but they are at least guaranteed to make the play-off round.

* Celtic are also sure to finish in the top 24.

* Benfica, PSG, Sporting CP, and VfB Stuttgart are all on 10 points, three points off the top eight, but none can make it into the top eight positions due to some teams above them -- such as Lille and Feyenoord -- facing each other. Lille vs Feyenoord alone guarantees that the team finishing in eighth will have at least 14 points.

* Manchester City are 25th in the standings -- a place away from play-off spots -- and Pep Guardiola's men must need a win at home against Club Brugge to sneak into the top 24.

* PSG avoiding a defeat away to Stuttgart will ensure a top 24 finish for the French champions but a loss could complicate things for them.