Champions League week 4

Seems an age since the last CL action, a lot goes on in 2 weeks!!

After 3 games Aston Villa lead the way, and along with Liverpool have a 100% record. Seven teams are on 7 points, including Manchester City and Arsenal.
Down the other end of the table there are a few big teams with work to do. Bayern Munich suffered back to back defeats to sit 23rd, while AC Milan and Atletico Madrid have just 3 points each. 6 teams remain pointless, with pot 1 side RB Leipzig among them.


Tuesday 5th November
Some big games coming this week and Liverpool vs Bayer Leverkusen should be a great contest. Ex-Liverpool man Xabi Alonso has the German champions in 6th with 2 wins and a draw so far.
Real Madrid vs AC Milan finds the Italians outside the top 24 and another defeat in Madrid would put Milan in some danger. Real recovered from the shock game 2 defeat to Lille and a 2 goal deficit to Dortmund to record a good 5-2 victory to leave them on 6 points. They will feel they cannot slip up again if they want top 8.
Ruben Amorin takes charge of his final CL game (for at least this season) and faces a team soon to be his local rival - Manchester City. Both these teams sit in the top 8 (8th v 3rd) on 7 points, but will be Sportings first fixture against a top 2 pot team and Citys third against pot 3 or 4.
The early kick-offs on Tuesday see PSV vs Girona and Slovan Bratislava vs Dinamo Zagreb. All 4 are in the bottom half of the table, so will be desperate for points in week 4.
Bologna host Monaco, with the Italians only picking up 1 point so far. Monaco, on the other hand, have had a strong start and sit 4th on 7 points.
Celtic vs RB Leipzig will be seen as an opportunity for both sides. Celtic got a decent draw last time out in Atalanta, while RB Leipzig will feel the 0 points is harsh considering they have played 3 teams from the top 2 pots.
Lille vs Juventus sees 14th at 15th, with Lille getting great wins against Madrids two representatives and Juventus wanting to get back to winning ways after losing their 100% record with defeat to Stuttgart.
Dortmund vs Sturm Graz finds the home side still stinging from the collapse against Real, but on a healthy 6 points. The Austrians are yet to win a point.


Wednesday 6th November
Aston Villa have had a dream start with 3 wins and will fancy their chances against Pot 2 side Club Brugge in an early kick off in Belgium. The hosts recorded 1 win from 3 games. Also at 17:45 is Shakhtar Doenestk vs Young Boys, with the hosts on 1 point and the Swiss side yet to pick up a point.
Bayern Munich vs Benfica finds the German giants on a 2 game losing streak, while Benfica were shocked at home by Feyenoord to end their 100% record.
One of the big games, but arguably not the most attractive game on paper, pits Italian side Inter Milan against Arsenal in the San Siro. It is Arsenals second trip to Italy after drawing 0-0 with Atalanta, while Inter also played out a 0-0 with an English side, Man City. Both have picked up a further 6 points since, and this game sees Arsenal complete fixtures against Pot 1 and 2 sides.
On paper, PSG vs Atletico Madrid is a top tie, but neither side will be pleased with their start. PSG have 4 points, while Madrid have just 3. Defeat here will leave either with little chance of a top 8 place and a lot of work to get top 16.
Stuttgart and Atalanta are mid-table with 4 and 5 points respectively. A win for either will strengthen hopes for a top 16 finish.
Barcelona go to Red Star Belgrade expecting 3 points after the demolition of Bayern last time out. Red Star have suffered 3 defeats, with the last 2 being by 4 goals.
Feyenoord vs Red Bull Salzburg and Sparta Prague vs Brest complete the fixture list. Feyenoord will be pleased with their start, 6 points, and will expect to beat pointless Salzburg. Brest are one of the surprise hits, 7 points and 5th in the table. Sparta, on 4 points, will also be okay with their start and see this as a good opportunity to further enhance their chances of qualification.


As we hit the halfway stage there are some big games this week. With 18 points still looking like a reasonable estimate for top 8, a few teams are already in a situation where they can't afford to drop more points.

Should be some good games. Enjoy.