Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal all look to secure passage to knock-out stages of Europe's elite club competition
Tuesday 28 October 2014 13:17, UK
We're halfway through the group stage of this year's UEFA Champions League and Matchday 4 serves up a repeat of the previous round of fixtures as teams regroup and prepare to mount their final challenge in search of qualification to the knock-out stage.
Manchester City, who host CSKA Moscow in the pick of the ties live on Sky Sports, find themselves third in Group E, seven points behind leaders Bayern Munich and two behind Roma, after two draws and a defeat from their opening three fixtures.
CSKA travel to the Etihad having reduced a two-goal deficit on Matchday 3 to deny City victory behind closed doors, after UEFA punished the Russian supporters' behaviour during their game with Bayern Munich. Nearly 50,000 fans, however, will be in attendance in Manchester for a game that City must win if they are to have a realistic chance of keeping their Champions League destiny in their own hands.
Elsewhere in the group, 2013 winners Bayern Munich will all-but secure their passage to the last-16 with a second victory over Roma in as many weeks. The Germans romped to a stunning 7-1 victory at the Stadio Olimpico last time out, and City boss Manuel Pellegrini may hope for a repeat result at the Allianz Arena as he battles with Roma for the second qualification spot.
Fresh off the back of their 6-0 demolition of Maribor at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea travel to Slovenia looking to cement their position at the top of Group G.
With tougher tests in store for the Blues as the season progresses, don't be surprised if you see the deployment of fringe players as Mourinho attempts to navigate the tie, get three points and concentrate on Saturday's London derby with Queens Park Rangers. Maribor, who defeated Celtic en route to the Champions League group stage, will surely have other ideas and have shown grit and resiliency throughout their campaign and draws with Schalke and Sporting mean they could prove a tricky obstacle to overcome at home.
Elsewhere, the red button will have coverage from the rest of the nights ties including Barcelona’s trip to Ajax, as the Catalonian's look to bounce back from their 3-1 El Clasico defeat at the Bernabeu.
Arsenal left it ever-so late in Belgium a fortnight ago and, had it not been for the last-gasp goals from Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski, the Gunners could have been dragged into battle to secure qualification behind Jurgen Klopp’s impressive Dortmund side.
Instead, Arsene Wenger sees his side lying second in Group D, three points adrift of the Germans but, more importantly, five points clear of Tuesday’s opponents and Galatasaray with qualification two wins away. Alexis Sanchez has played a pivotal role at the Emirates since his summer move from Barcelona and will look to link up with fellow summer arrival Danny Welbeck as he looks to add to the hat-trick he netted when Galatasaray visited London in October.
Tuesday evening’s early tie sees Group C leaders Bayer Leverkusen visit Zenit St Petersburg with last-16 qualification firmly in their sights. Andre Villas-Boas' Zenit side will be looking to avenge their 2-0 defeat at the BayArena last week and also cut struggling Benfica adrift at the bottom of Group C.
Elsewhere, Dortmund will take a giant step towards the last-16 with a victory over Galatasaray, as too will last year's runners up Atletico Madrid if they can win at Malmo. Basel will look to keep the pressure on Liverpool with a victory over spirited debutants Ludogorets while Juventus will be looking to put an end to their stuttering start to their domestic and European campiagns.