England manager Roy Hodgson has insisted that he is not concerned by the recent performances of English clubs on the European stage.
Manchester City suffered a 3-1 aggregate defeat against Barcelona last night to join Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool in failing to make it beyond the last-16 stage of the Champions League.
It is the second time in three years that the Premier League has failed to have a single representative in the quarter-finals of the showpiece competition, but Hodgson believes that normal service will be resumed in the coming years.
"No doubt the Premier League and the top clubs won't want to lose the fourth Champions League place, but it is a fact of life that if you want four places then you have to get the points to keep that status," he told reporters.
"No English team in the last eight is not endemic - that this time we have teams going out is just one of those things. Man City came across a top class Barcelona side, Arsenal played well in the second leg but weren't able to turn tie around after a poor performance in the first leg.
"The Chelsea and PSG games were incredibly tight and no one would have been surprised if Chelsea went through. So I think there will be other times when our teams go through and we will say we're lucky. The Premier League is a great league and we have great players - that doesn't give you the right to win matches against teams from other countries."
Everton remain the only English top-flight side in Europe's secondary competition, the Europa League, following the recent exits of Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool.
Daniel Lewis
