As the UEFA Champions League enters Matchday Two, all four Premier League clubs in the competition are facing tricky fixtures. Even though a draw or defeat would not condemn any of the English sides to the Europa League, anything less than three points would heap unwanted pressure on the club and create nervous times for their supporters.

Only one English side was able to earn all three points during Matchday One of the European tournament and that was Liverpool. The Merseyside club labored before defeating Ludogorets at Anfield, 2-1; they needed a stoppage time penalty to beat the Bulgarian side. Brendan Rodgers’ side now have to travel to Switzerland to face Basel, who have proven to be a tough draw for English clubs in European competition.

Chelsea were the only other Premier League side to earn at least a point in the competition as they drew at home to Schalke. They now travel to Portugal to face Sporting Lisbon who will be relishing the chance to take on Jose Mourinho and his London club.

While two clubs, Arsenal and Manchester City, are winless after opening the Champions League group stage with defeats and now each face intriguing matches against Galatasaray and AS Roma respectively on Matchday Two. Should one or both of these clubs fail to win a point, it would see them needing to take maximum points in their remaining four fixtures to ensure safe progression in the competition.

Group E – Manchester City v. AS Roma – Tuesday at 2:45pm EST on Fox Sports 1

Some would say Manchester City were unfortunate to leave Germany without a point after Manuel Pellegrini’s men were able to keep Bayern Munich scoreless for the majority of their opening group stage fixture against the Bundesliga champions.

Joe Hart put in a Man of the Match performance in the defeat, with the only goal allowed being a deflected strike off of a Jerome Boateng shot in the dying minutes of the contest. Prior to that goal, England’s number one goalkeeper had been a wall in front of City’s net, making a string of saves from Thomas Muller, Mario Gotze and Boateng.

The visitors were also denied a potential penalty when Bayern defender Mehdi Benatia appeared to foul David Silva in the box.

Regardless of the positives which can be taken from that match, City now face the daunting task of taking maximum points from Italian side, AS Roma.

Roma won their opening Group D fixture against CSKA Moscow, 5-1, and are currently undefeated in Serie A after five matches; only trailing Juventus on goal differential.

Manager Rudi Garcia is doing his best to downplay his club’s chances of advancing past the group stages by labeling his team as the ‘outsiders’.

“After the draw, everyone took this game as a defeat, so we only have to gain from going to the Etihad,” Garcia said during his pre-match press conference. “Are we third favorites to advance? Do not forget that at the draw we were in the fourth pot, not the third. It means that we are the outsiders, as we are facing the champions of Germany and England.”

But anyone who has following the progress of Roma since the Garcia’s arrival from Lille last summer, knows that the Italian club are a serious threat to advance to the Round of 16 of the competition.

Roma started last season by winning their first ten consecutive games before ultimately finishing second place to Juventus. The Italian club quickly embraced Garcia’s aggressive, attacking style and have shown a strong cohesion as a group.

The Giallorossi’s long-serving captain Francesco Totti is one of the best midfielders in Europe, and despite his age has shown no signs of losing his fierce competitiveness or world class abilities. The 38-year-old has targeted the treble for himself and his teammates.

Italian clubs have always proved difficult for English sides to crack in Europe, and Roma will be no different. Should Rudi Garcia’s men stifle the reigning Premier League champions in the opening minutes of Tuesday’s match, pressure will begin to mount on Manuel Pellegrini’s side.

City are fully aware that they have lost their last three Champions League matches for the first time in club history. A defeat at home to Roma – coupled with a Bayern Munich victory against CSKA Moscow – would force the club to take maximum points in their remaining group stage fixtures.

While it can be expected that Manchester City will take all six points from CSKA Moscow, it is likely the remaining members of Group E will also take maximum points from the Russian Champions (CSKA Moscow’s defending can be comical at times). That means the winners and runners-up of the group will come down to the head-to-head matchups between Bayern, Roma and City.

Tuesday night could see nervy times at the Etihad.

Arsenal v. Galatasaray – Wednesday at 2:45pm EST on Fox Sports 1

English clubs as a whole have had difficulty with matches against Turkish clubs. As recently as last month, Arsenal nearly missed out on the Champions League group stages after narrowly beating Bestikas over two legs of the qualifying round.

Entering Wednesday’s match at the Emirates, manager Arsene Wenger is facing a serious shortage of manpower after confirmation came of Aaron Ramsey’s injury yesterday; the Welsh midfielder joins Theo Walcott and Olivier Giroud on the club’s long term injury list. Mikel Arteta will miss the contest with a calf problem, while Laurent Koscielny and Per Mertesacker have been carrying knocks for the past week.

The Gunners squad is so stretched that there is talk of defender Calum Chambers getting a nod in midfield.

The good news for Wenger is that Jack Wilshere returned to training and could feature in the contest. But with Arsenal dropping their opening match of the group stages to Borussia Dortmund, the club would have hoped to have had the majority of their squad as close to 100% as possible against Galatasaray.

Year in and year out, the Turkish club are a difficult nut to crack. Last season, they drew with Juventus in Turin during the Champions League group stages, before knocking the Italian champions out of the competition on the last matchday of the European tournament. Galatasaray ended up joining group winners Real Madrid in the Round of 16, when the majority of the football experts had already penciled in Juventus as the Spanish club’s partner.

Anything less than three points at the Emirates would mean Arsenal would need to take maximum points from one of their next two Champions League fixtures away and home to Anderlecht; the Belgian club have also proven a tough draw in Europe in recent times. With the Gunners last two group stage matches being home to Dortmund and away to Galatasaray in Istanbul; a place that is never easy to get points.

Similar to the Manchester City-AS Roma contest, the longer the visiting side can keep the English club at bay, the more pressure will mount on Arsenal to get a result at home.

The ‘Arsene Wenger watch’ will start around the 30th minute should the match remain nil-nil, or should the Turks take a surprise lead in London. Cameras will be fixed on Wenger, with his body language and facial expressions being dissected by television pundits after every missed shot or errant pass.

Basel v. Liverpool – Wednesday at 2:45pm EST on Fox Sports 2

Regardless of how Liverpool got it, Brendan Rodgers’ side got the three points against Ludogorets. That’s all that matters.

No one expected Liverpool to win Group B – once they were drawn with Real Madrid – but they are expected to finish as runners up. Anything less than that would be a failure and would doom the club to the Europa League.

Rodgers is still trying to integrate his summer signings into the squad after a rash of early season injuries. The clash against Basel on Wednesday will come to soon for striker Daniel Sturridge who has not recovered from his thigh injury in time to fly to Switzerland with the rest of the squad. And Mamadou Sakho was kept off the plane because the defender is facing disciplinary action from the club after having walked out of Anfield once he was informed he would not be in the match-day squad for the Merseyside derby against Everton.

While Liverpool could afford a draw against Basel, that result is far from guaranteed against the Swiss club.

Once again, English teams have had difficulty getting positive results against Basel over the past few seasons. Chelsea found that out last season as they lost both fixtures to the Swiss champions.

The last time Liverpool traveled to Basel’s imposing St Jakob-Park, they fell behind the Swiss side by three goals before fighting back to earn a draw. But it was Basel that ultimately progressed in the competition.

Liverpool were not at their flowing, attacking best against Ludogorets on Matchday One, or against Everton this weekend. They have yet to put in a stretch of consistent showings this season.

With successive fixtures against Real Madrid on their Champions League horizon, Brendan Rodgers’ men need to have their attention fully on the task at hand in St Jakob-Park. Should Basel take all three points and Madrid take care of business against the Bulgarian side in their Matchday Two fixture, Liverpool would be staring at the daunting task of taking points from the La Liga giants; who have been running rampant in recent weeks.

Sporting Lisbon v. Chelsea – Tuesday at 2:45pm EST on Fox Sports 2

Out of all of the Premier League clubs, Chelsea were handed the ‘easiest’ draw of the four English clubs in the competition according to the pundits.

All due respect to Schalke, Sporting Lisbon and Maribor; Jose Mourinho’s side are the favorites to win the Premier League and perhaps England’s best chance to advance to the Champions League final. Not many expect the London club to finish runners up in a group made up of a club currently in 10th place in the Bundesliga, a Portuguese side that has only taken ten points from their opening six league fixtures and the reigning Slovenian champions.

But football is funny sometimes. Schalke changed everything by frustrating Mourinho’s men at Stamford Bridge, with only two controversial goals preventing the clubs from finishing in a nil-nil draw (the match ended 1-1). Now Chelsea need to take all three points in Lisbon or face unwanted pressure in their remaining fixtures.

The magnitude of the match is shown in the fact that Mourinho is electing to bring oft-injured striker Diego Costa along on the trip to Portugal. The Chelsea manager has been reluctant to play the Spain international in mid-week games due to a nagging hamstring injury which has kept him in and out of training.

The manager’s striker options are limited in Lisbon by the absence of Didier Drogba, who aggravated an ankle injury in training. Loic Remy has trained and traveled with the squad. But Mourinho has made it clear that Chelsea are “made to play” with Costa leading their line.

With that said, if the match against Sporting Lisbon was thought to be ‘easy’, Mourinho would have considered resting Costa against the Portuguese club prior to Chelsea’s weekend fixture against their bitter rivals, Arsenal.

Make no mistake about it, this is a big match for Chelsea. Mourinho will want to get the group out of the way as fast as possible in order to focus on his domestic campaign. The Portuguese boss is planning to march his English club into Estadio Jose Alvalade and take maximum points from Sporting, in an effort to give his side some breathing room in Group G.

Petequinn

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