UEFA’s newly-defined second tier of club competition will hold a strong Premiership presence this year with more than one team fancying their chances of a good run away from domestic concerns during 2009/10.

England’s representatives in the Champions League’s little brother start their campaigns at different times. Fulham’s transition from escape artists on the final day of 2007/8 to European qualifiers a year later is a huge tribute to Roy Hodgson’s leadership. They enter the competition in the third qualifying round at the same time as the likes of Italians AS Roma, Turkish giants Fenerbahce, SV Hamburg of Germany and Dutch side PSV Eindhoven. Hodgson will no doubt want the club’s first foray into Europe to last for more than a couple of matches but will be aware that continued Premiership progression must remain the main objective for all but the strongest domestic teams.

Everton and Aston Villa are no strangers to European competition with Villa past European Champions and Everton having previously lifted the European Cup Winners Cup. The Toffees battled against a whole host of injuries to key players last season and yet still reached the FA Cup final and produced a strong league campaign. Aston Villa competed in the UEFA Cup last season but went out in Russia after Martin O’Neill made a brave but ultimately fruitless decision to rest his senior players with one eye on securing a Champions League spot.

David Moyes’ side had Tim Cahill playing as their main forward for a part of the 2008/9 season due to long-term injuries to their strike force. If they can keep key men fit, Goodison Park could well see a few more glorious European nights before the campaign is finished. Whilst progression and a challenge to the top four is undoubtedly Moyes’ main aim, he cannot help but consider the progress his men made ‘’short-handed’ as a cup team last time out and must at least in part fancy his chances of taking them into the latter stages of the tournament.

Martin O’Neill knows how close his UEFA Cup gamble came to paying off last season only to fall just short at the death. If Villa can find a little more consistency then they could be competing against Everton in more than one area this year. Breaking the stranglehold on the top four positions remains high on O’Neill’s wish-list but the experience from last year will surely mean no repeat of the heavily-criticised decision for forgo further progression in Europe for a possible domestic gain.

English clubs have shown consistently good form in European competition in recent years and this year should be no different.