Collymore: Manchester United miss Leeds United

Perhaps you support Arsenal and cheered when Monaco equalised against Spurs?

“We respect that challenge, and it means you really have to monitor and get the best out of the players you have available”.

“Porto, who played last night, played on Friday so they got permission to move their game which keeps them fresh”.

When Chelsea won the Champions League in 2012, it finished sixth domestically. They lost their first five Bundesliga matches as well as their Champions League opener against Sevilla but have since recorded two consecutive League wins.

This gives an extra weight of importance to the Europa League for the clubs who drop into it, as they could be playing for the long-term wellbeing of the fourth Champions League place that they are likely to rely on in the future.

Arsenal star Mesut Özil has stated that his side will bounce back from their Champions League group stage defeat against Dinamo Zagreb a fortnight ago.

They are there to be knocked off their perch as Sir Alex would have said, and they’re already 8 points adrift of leaders Manchester United.”The Premier League is a very hard league”, he said over the weekend.

Recent history isn’t any better – in two of the past three seasons, no English clubs were able to advance past the UCL Round of 16.

The English premier League had one of its most productive weekends with more than forty goals being scored and at least two major shocks. “I doubt if Manchester City even know all our players but I am sure once the game is over they will know plenty of us”.

The seventh round of Barclays Premier League was a spectacular one.

· Dimitri Payet has had a hand in 13 goals (four goals, nine assists) in his last 15 league appearances (Premier League & Ligue 1 combined).

In the opinion of Crystal Palace boss Alan Pardew – who led Newcastle to the quarter-finals of the competition in 2013 – the current set-up of the competition is not suited to Premier League sides.

“When you look at the quality and standard of players at this club it’s nearly demanded of us to be competing in Europe at the highest level”.

Last season, at the same venue, United, with a makeshift defence, somehow were able to perform a heist of the three points at stake.

The Black Cats have now lost 10 Premier League games on the bounce, losing six and drawing four.

My Fantrax team scored 151 points (with Alexis Sanchez and Daniel Sturridge leading the way), good enough to now put me in the 20th place in Beat the Bloggers League.

For the Premier League, the only way to reassert their European prestige is to have sides return to dominant performances.

Pellegrini has failed to win the Champions League in his previous attempts with Real Madrid, Malaga or Villareal, but the Chilean is insistent that it is not as easy at it sounds.