Friday, April 26, 2024

Will all the English teams make it to the knockout stages of the Champions League?

It’s slightly ironic that we sit here a day after round five of the Champions League games and the only English side to have qualified for the knockout stages are Arsenal.

The Gunners have qualified despite having such a turbulent start to their season.

Surprised

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger admitted that he was surprised by Arsenal being the first English team to go through. He told Sky Sports: “ I am surprised (that we are the first English team to qualify),”

“Manchester United could have qualified and of course everyone expects Man City to qualify. We were in a difficult group and I am very happy to see where we have come from.

“When we drew Udinese in the qualifier, you couldn’t bet exactly that we would go through like we have done so overall I am happy. We came through a very difficult period because we were united and we worked hard together.”

Tricky

I wouldn’t have said that Arsenal’s group was difficult, more tricky. The Gunners wasn’t in the best of form at the start of the campaign and that’s why it looked like a difficult group. Dortmund also had a slow start to their season and Marseille currently sit 10th in Ligue One.

Congratulations to the Gunners for being the first English team through. What of the other English teams though?

Home

Premier League Champions Manchester United have uncharacteristically floundered at home in this seasons Champions League. Portuguese side Benfica were always going to be the big threat to Manchester United in group C.

They were never likely to be pushovers and probably deserved their point at Old Trafford. The bigger surprise was the fact that Swiss side Basel managed to draw 3-3 in Manchester. And that United had to score a late equaliser through Ashley Young.

Now the English Champions have to travel to Switzerland and get a result. United will be expected to go to Basel and dominate but the home side won’t make it easy for United. With United needing just a draw though I would be really surprised if they were beaten.

Tough

Manchester City were handed the toughest Champions League debut they could have been given. Their group consisting of Bayern, Napoli and Villarreal. Bayern have already won the group but have vowed not to take the foot off the peddle when they visit the Etihad Stadium on match day six.

City’s competitors for second place in the group Napoli head to Villarreal in their last game of the group. The Spaniards have been the whipping boys of this group. The Yellow Submarine has had terrible injury problems this season and they currently sit bottom of the group with no points.

Napoli should beat the Spaniards but the Italian side has struggled for results in recent weeks after a brilliant start to their Serie A campaign. In the likes of Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik they have top quality attacking players and I fully expect them to get a result in Spain.

This season has been a learning experience for Manchester City in their debut season in the Champions League. Even if they do go out at the group stage I’m sure they will learn from it and come back stronger next season.

Slump

Chelsea have been in a bit of a slump recently. Losing to German side Bayer Leverkusen last night was a surprise to a lot of people. Any German side carries a threat and Leverkusen have looked dangerous in the last few Bundesliga seasons.

The win for the German side means that they has now qualified for the last 16 of the competition. Its in Chelsea’s hands whether they go through or not. They face Spanish side Valencia at home and need just a goalless draw to go through.

Valencia are a good attacking team with the likes of Roberto Soldado and Tino Costa in their team. However I don’t think they will have enough to beat Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. I think Chelsea will be up for the occasion.

Two

I think that two out of the three English sides will qualify with Arsenal for the knockout stages of the Champions League. I’ll leave you decide which teams they will be. To put it in Meat Loaf’s words ‘Two Out Three Ain’t bad’.

Will all four English sides qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David Nugent


David is a freelance football writer with nearly a decade of experience writing about the beautiful game. The experienced writer has written for over a dozen websites and also an international soccer magazine offline.
Arguably his best work has come as an editorial writer for Soccernews, sharing his good, bad and ugly opinions on the world’s favourite sport. During David’s writing career he has written editorials, betting previews, match previews, banter, news and opinion pieces.

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  • Roy Smith

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    Couldn’t have said it any better myself, Anthony.

  • Anthony

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    CHELSEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! YEAAAAHHHHHH!!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!! 🙂 😀

  • Kevin D

    0 0

    incredible, but Basel beat United and therefore, only Arsenal and Chelsea will go into the knockout stages. Who would have tought that only the London clubs would go to the next round ?

  • cloud

    0 0

    ..i had a big laugh with Benjamin’s statement. Anyway, United will go thru since it’s Sir Alex’s tactics and he has never failed since. City can’t go thru coz Bayern will field a strong team coz they want to make a statement against this hyped team of City. And Napoli on the other hand has the best chance since Villareal has absolutely nothing to gain, for sure they send out their B-team against the italians. But what’s interesting is how can Chelsea cope up with high flying Valencia. Chelsea have the experience but the spaniards form in europe is impressive. In the Chel-Val game, it would be experience vs hunger, let’s see who wins. But my bet is on Valencia, their team structure is much more stable than the shaky Blues.

  • Matt

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    Further to what David (who knows my stance on grammar) had to say to Benjamin, not only did you mis-spell writing you also mis-quoted David’s article, David did not write “wouldn’t of” he wrote “wouldn’t HAVE” which is again grammatically correct, well done on anther fine article David. Personally I think Man Utd will join Arsenal in the knock out stages and as long as the can beat Valencia at home (which having managed a draw away, I feel they will) I’m sure Chelsea will be there too. As for Man City; even if they can beat Bayern they still require Villareal to beat Napoli to guarantee going through, although if they draw with Bayern and Napoli lose it will come down to goal difference which could be interesting as there’s only one in at as it stands. All in all I think Man City’s chance of going through is slim at best.

    • David Nugent

      0 0

      Thanks for your very well balanced comment Matt.

  • sioho

    0 0

    Wat bout chelsea?

  • sioho

    0 0

    Funny thing nobody’s tokin bout chelsea…

  • Agbo, Nigeria

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    Man city’s group is the toughest, very few clubs can beat bayarn muchen, with their present form, chelsea is in their poorest form, for scholari’s ailing tactics, produced better results than that of AVB. I think chelsea and mancity will not make it to the round of 16.

  • Brad

    0 0

    Haha, David, you got Benjamin there. . . .

    I can’t see Manchester City getting through either, they have to win and even then they do not have any guarantee of advancing. They’re players are still not paying off, otherwise you would expect them to have won the group, or at the very least, clinched a second round spot as runner up.

    Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Fergie will find a way to get through. We might not have a true playmaker in midfield, but defense should be more than enough to help us seal a victory after getting ahead by 1 or 2 goals. . . but even those seem hard to come by. But I think we’ll make it.

  • David Nugent

    0 0

    Benjamin, I think you mean writing not writting! I had 700 odd words to write you had two lines and any 12 year old could have written your comment.

    If you are going to criticise somebody please make sure that the few lines you write are correct and you don’t leave yourself open to looking like a complete and utter fool!

  • Kevin D

    0 0

    I cannot see Manchester City go through, just because of the way they played vs Munchen and yesterday vs Napoli. Bayern Munchen is not gonna give an easy 3 points to the english club for sure. Furthermore, nobody expects Villareal to hold Napoli to a draw so for Manchester City, they will defenitely need a result vs group leaders Bayern Munchen and hope for an unexcepted result between Napoli and Villareal. This is far from guaranteed for the Citizens. City fans should realistically think about Europa League now and the domestic league and cups in England.

  • Benjamin Pais

    0 0

    “I wouldn’t of said that Arsenal’s group was difficult, more tricky.”

    Wouldn’t of?? really.. who is writting this stuff now.. 12 years olds?

  • Benjamin Pais

    0 0

    “I wouldn’t of said that Arsenal’s group was difficult, more tricky.”

    Wouldn’t of?? really.. who is writting this stuff now.. 12 years olds?

  • Kevin D

    0 0

    I cannot see Manchester City go through, just because of the way they played vs Munchen and yesterday vs Napoli. Bayern Munchen is not gonna give an easy 3 points to the english club for sure. Furthermore, nobody expects Villareal to hold Napoli to a draw so for Manchester City, they will defenitely need a result vs group leaders Bayern Munchen and hope for an unexcepted result between Napoli and Villareal. This is far from guaranteed for the Citizens. City fans should realistically think about Europa League now and the domestic league and cups in England.

  • David Nugent

    0 0

    Benjamin, I think you mean writing not writting! I had 700 odd words to write you had two lines and any 12 year old could have written your comment.

    If you are going to criticise somebody please make sure that the few lines you write are correct and you don’t leave yourself open to looking like a complete and utter fool!

  • Brad

    0 0

    Haha, David, you got Benjamin there. . . .

    I can’t see Manchester City getting through either, they have to win and even then they do not have any guarantee of advancing. They’re players are still not paying off, otherwise you would expect them to have won the group, or at the very least, clinched a second round spot as runner up.

    Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Fergie will find a way to get through. We might not have a true playmaker in midfield, but defense should be more than enough to help us seal a victory after getting ahead by 1 or 2 goals. . . but even those seem hard to come by. But I think we’ll make it.

  • Agbo, Nigeria

    0 0

    Man city’s group is the toughest, very few clubs can beat bayarn muchen, with their present form, chelsea is in their poorest form, for scholari’s ailing tactics, produced better results than that of AVB. I think chelsea and mancity will not make it to the round of 16.

  • sioho

    0 0

    Funny thing nobody’s tokin bout chelsea…

  • sioho

    0 0

    Wat bout chelsea?

  • Matt

    0 0

    Further to what David (who knows my stance on grammar) had to say to Benjamin, not only did you mis-spell writing you also mis-quoted David’s article, David did not write “wouldn’t of” he wrote “wouldn’t HAVE” which is again grammatically correct, well done on anther fine article David. Personally I think Man Utd will join Arsenal in the knock out stages and as long as the can beat Valencia at home (which having managed a draw away, I feel they will) I’m sure Chelsea will be there too. As for Man City; even if they can beat Bayern they still require Villareal to beat Napoli to guarantee going through, although if they draw with Bayern and Napoli lose it will come down to goal difference which could be interesting as there’s only one in at as it stands. All in all I think Man City’s chance of going through is slim at best.

    • David Nugent

      0 0

      Thanks for your very well balanced comment Matt.

  • cloud

    0 0

    ..i had a big laugh with Benjamin’s statement. Anyway, United will go thru since it’s Sir Alex’s tactics and he has never failed since. City can’t go thru coz Bayern will field a strong team coz they want to make a statement against this hyped team of City. And Napoli on the other hand has the best chance since Villareal has absolutely nothing to gain, for sure they send out their B-team against the italians. But what’s interesting is how can Chelsea cope up with high flying Valencia. Chelsea have the experience but the spaniards form in europe is impressive. In the Chel-Val game, it would be experience vs hunger, let’s see who wins. But my bet is on Valencia, their team structure is much more stable than the shaky Blues.

  • Kevin D

    0 0

    incredible, but Basel beat United and therefore, only Arsenal and Chelsea will go into the knockout stages. Who would have tought that only the London clubs would go to the next round ?

  • Anthony

    0 0

    CHELSEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! YEAAAAHHHHHH!!! WOOOO HOOOOO!!! 🙂 😀

  • Roy Smith

    0 0

    Couldn’t have said it any better myself, Anthony.

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