London – Next season, assuming Liverpool can negotiate the play-off round, there will be five English clubs in the Champions League. That is a large number, though it does not necessarily follow that a greater representation will lead to a better chance of English success. Premier League sides have been struggling to impose themselves in Europe in recent years. From a position a decade ago when finals were being reached on a regular basis and Uefa had genuine concerns when two English clubs faced each other in Moscow in 2008, the strength of the Premier League now seems to be an obstacle to progress in Europe rather than the money and attention grabber that once threatened domination.

Chelsea were the last English team to appear in a final, when they won the event on penalties in Munich in 2012, though the reality of the past five years has been that English clubs have rarely been around to contest the later stages of the knockout rounds. Leicester City did surprisingly well to reach the quarter-finals this year, which was better than more experienced teams such as Arsenal and Manchester City managed.

City had reached the semi-final stage a year earlier, though in Manuel Pellegrini’s final season there was no real expectation that they could summon the self-belief or strength of character to see off Real Madrid and they duly went out without scoring a goal over two legs. The year before that, none of the four English teams managed to reach the last eight, and Liverpool did not even survive the group stage.

Various theories have been advanced as to why English clubs have fallen off the pace in Europe. Some say the Premier League is too difficult and unforgiving, leaving little spare energy for extra commitments in midweek. Others believe the English competition is vastly overrated and its crash-bang-wallop players are quickly found out when confronted by continental levels of technique and organisation.

Leaving that argument for another day, the fact is that English clubs have ground to make up on their European counterparts, particularly Barcelona, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Short of signing up three-quarters of the Monaco team, a good idea but probably not a practical one, what can English clubs do to put themselves back into contention for Champions League finals? Is there any hope of significant improvement next season, or will we simply end up with five disappointing campaigns instead of four? Everyone is promising a busy summer, even Arsenal, who are only in the Europa League, but here is a quick look at what each of the Champions League contenders might need to boost their chances.

Chelsea

By far the most robust team in England last season, with a simple system that not only works but suits all the players at Antonio Conte’s disposal, there were nevertheless signs towards the end that the champions could be stopped. Though N’Golo Kanté and Nemanja Matic are good at the destructive duties required of defensive midfielders there could be a little more creativity in that area, otherwise too much of the burden falls on Eden Hazard.

Chelsea will also have to resolve the Diego Costa situation, either by keeping him or by bringing in a striker of similar quality. There are not too many of those and even Romelu Lukaku would strike some as an inferior replacement. Chelsea have been linked with the unsettled Real Madrid forward Álvaro Morata, though the Spain international reportedly favours a move back to Italy.

Tottenham Hotspur

Spurs were great at home last season but out of Europe by Christmas, partly down to playing their Champions League games at Wembley. They will be playing all their games there this season so they had better get used to it, though it is still reasonable to pose the question of what Mauricio Pochettino considers his priority. Spurs would not mind a good run in Europe but they probably do not see themselves as potential finalists just yet whereas, with a favourable wind and a couple of tweaks to the team, they ought to have a very good chance of winning the Premier League.

Tottenham have not won the title since 1961 but first things first. Some of the Spurs players are already attracting interest from other clubs, so a concerted effort to finish on top in England next year would be a logical and desirable next step.

Manchester City

A defensive rethink is needed at the Etihad, beginning with the goalkeeper. News that City are signing Benfica’s Ederson at least means Pep Guardiola has recognised the mistake he made with Claudio Bravo, after being in denial for most of the season. City are fine at the front, they boast the Brazil and Argentina No9s in Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Agüero and have plenty of quality in the support positions but they need a couple of full-backs and, as ever, cover at centre-half for Vincent Kompany.

Keeping both Agüero and Jesus happy might be a problem but City mostly need to tighten their defence to stop conceding stupid goals, an observation made by Pellegrini at least three years ago.

Spurs were great at home last season but out of Europe by Christmas, partly down to playing their Champions League games at Wembley. They will be playing all their games there this season so they had better get used to it, though it is still reasonable to pose the question of what Mauricio Pochettino considers his priority. Spurs would not mind a good run in Europe but they probably do not see themselves as potential finalists just yet whereas, with a favourable wind and a couple of tweaks to the team, they ought to have a very good chance of winning the Premier League.

Tottenham have not won the title since 1961 but first things first. Some of the Spurs players are already attracting interest from other clubs, so a concerted effort to finish on top in England next year would be a logical and desirable next step.

Manchester City

A defensive rethink is needed at the Etihad, beginning with the goalkeeper. News that City are signing Benfica’s Ederson at least means Pep Guardiola has recognised the mistake he made with Claudio Bravo, after being in denial for most of the season. City are fine at the front, they boast the Brazil and Argentina No9s in Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Agüero and have plenty of quality in the support positions but they need a couple of full-backs and, as ever, cover at centre-half for Vincent Kompany.

Keeping both Agüero and Jesus happy might be a problem but City mostly need to tighten their defence to stop conceding stupid goals, an observation made by Pellegrini at least three years ago.

Liverpool

Like Tottenham, Liverpool might be more tempted to put most of their energy into a title challenge rather than an extended run in Europe, though extended runs in Europe will never be disdained at Anfield. Most feel Liverpool need a reliable goalscorer, having failed to end up with anyone in the Premier League’s top 10 last season, though Jürgen Klopp may continue to trust Philippe Coutinho, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mané to contribute enough between them. Apart from that a commanding goalkeeper and centre-half would not go amiss, and perhaps a driving presence in midfield. Klopp also needs to evaluate his tactics. Even without European involvement last season, Liverpool looked tired at the end. This does not yet look like a side capable of terrorising Europe as of old.

Manchester United

United could do with Uefa relaxing Atlético Madrid’s transfer ban, if that is what is preventing Antoine Griezmann coming to Old Trafford. The Frenchman has the class and imagination to be a crowd-pleaser at United and, if his long-predicted move must wait to January at the earliest, it could be too late to galvanise the European campaign. United must keep hold of David de Gea, whatever the cost, and bring in a striker to take over from Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

Even before the Swede’s injury United were not scoring enough goals and, working on the theory that José Mourinho likes a big chap up front – Didier Drogba, Costa, Ibrahimovic, etc – Lukaku has been mentioned. It has yet to be established whether Mourinho rates the Belgian any higher than he did when letting him leave Stamford Bridge, and United may end up trying to outbid Chelsea for Morata.

The Guardian Sport