IT IS a competition that clubs are almost supposed to fear - but should Saints really be worried about the Europa League affecting their domestic form?

The tournament has become regularly maligned in England during recent years, with the suggestion being that it significantly hampers the results of teams in the top-flight.

Former Saints boss Mauricio Pochettino once said the Europa League "kills you", while another of the club's ex-managers, Graeme Souness, told the Daily Echo recently that it will undoubtedly damage the side's Premier League campaign.

"It's guaranteed to do that," he said. "You look at Everton this year.

"Any team that’s involved in that Europa League, it has an impact on the league performance."

But just how true is that?

 

The Daily Echo has looked back at the results of English sides who have taken part in the competition, since it was revamped from the UEFA Cup in 2009/10, and they show that there is by no means a guarantee that Saints will regress next season.

In that time, 16 English clubs have competed in the group stages, either by earning direct entry to them, or getting there via the qualifying rounds, as Saints would have to do - we have excluded any side who did not advance through the qualifiers, due to them playing a negligible amount of games, or who dropped in from the Champions League at the knockout stages.

Additionally, two sides - Birmingham and Wigan - were relegated in the season they earned a Europa League spot, and have therefore been discounted, as they were Championship clubs when they actually took part in it.

Of the remaining 14, nine did see their Premier League points total drop in the season they played in Europe.

Most notably, Everton ended up 25 points worse off last season than in 2013/14, while Newcastle saw a 24-point drop off in 2012/13.

That sort of decline for Saints would undoubtedly put them in significant danger of relegation next season.

But, while those two cases are oft-cited examples, the reality is that the story elsewhere has been far from horrific.

Of the other seven teams who went backwards, six of them only saw their points total diminish by a small amount - five points or fewer.

Five teams even saw an improvement in their Premier League points total after qualifying for the Europa League - Manchester City in 2010/11, Tottenham and Fulham in 2011/12, as well as Liverpool and Spurs again in 2012/13.

On four of those occasions, the side in question had played 12 or more games in the competition.

So, while it is surely the case that the Europa League has the potential to negatively impact a club's domestic form, it is far from certain that it actually will.

HOW PREMIER LEAGUE TEAMS PERFORMED AFTER QUALIFYING FOR EUROPE:

2009/10

Fulham: 46 points (down 7 on previous season)
Everton: 61 points (down 2)

2010/11

Manchester City: 71 points (up 4)
Liverpool: 58 points (down 5)

2011/12

Tottenham: 69 points (up 7)
Stoke: 45 points (down 1)
Fulham: 52 points (up 3)

2012/13

Liverpool: 61 points (up 9)
Newcastle: 41 points (down 24)
Tottenham: 72 points (up 3)

2013/14

Swansea: 42 points (down 4)
Tottenham: 69 points (down 3)

2014/15

Tottenham: 64 points (down 5)
Everton: 47 points (down 25)