http://ampp3d.mirror.co.uk/2014/02/...uropa-league-ruin-your-premier-league-season/ Woth following the link for the data, the article is below. The Europa League is back today. Stop sniggering at the back. It might feel like this yearâs competition started in 1872, but in truth it was only in July 2013. But our question is this: Does playing in the Europa League ruin your season? To find out, we looked at each Premier League team to have qualified for the Europa League/UEFA Cup since 1992. We compared their finishing league position in the season they qualified for Europe, to the one when they were playing hundreds of seemingly pointless mid-week away ties in Eastern Europe. More than half of all qualifiers â 57% â finished lower in the league in the season they were competing in the competition than they did the previous year. And if you do well in Europe, your domestic prospects are even worse. Of teams reaching the quarter finals or better, 65% of them ended up with a lower league position than the season before. Just to recap how unwieldy the Europa League is, it features a gob-smacking 194 teams. Itâs theoretically possible that a team included in the First Qualifying Round could play 23 games if they reach the Final. Thatâs more than half-a-season of Premier League matches. No wonder qualifying for it is becoming seen as a poisoned chalice.
It's definitely got the potential to be a bit of a form f**ker, 2 perfect examples in Liverpool and Swansea over the past 2 years, Liverpool doing better in the league by a distance with pretty much the same team than last year, Swanses dying on their arses
