Yesterday was one of those nights, when you just plonk in front of the telly and thank the Lord for some football, any football that is going on. Even more so for United fans, after the no-show that we put up against Bolton on Sunday. As luck would have it, I got to catch a lot of football, right from the highlights of the first round of the Champions League, moving on to games from the Championship, and even a sprinkling of games from League 1 and League 2!

Hardly any better than Saturday was it? I believe you and me are all looking for a response from the team. Sadly that never came. No highs this time, no first half lead to celebrate, just abysmal abject performance all the way. So much for the immediate response that the players themselves said that this Champions League will give.

Another weekend in the Premier League brings another mouth watering clash as London big boys Arsenal and Chelsea meet at Stamford Bridge on Sunday. A Chelsea win would see the Champions go seven points clear of Arsenal in the first week of October, a comfortable distance early on.

Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

The Guardian looks at the Champions League Draw and how the English clubs (4) are placed: English clubs largely had reasons to be pleased with the draw for the Champions League group stages, which took place in Monaco this afternoon. Manchester United will travel to Scotland to take on Sir Alex Ferguson's former club Rangers with Valencia and the Turkish champions Bursaspor completing Group C.

>> Click Here To Watch Arsenal Vs Braga Live Now <<

Arsenal Vs Braga Live Streaming & Match Preview
Champions League – Arsenal Vs Braga Live Online Click Here
Wednesday, 15th September 2010
Kick Off : 19:45 BST
Venue : Emirates Stadium, London

The Champions League fixture between Arsenal and Portuguese side Braga will be played at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday 15th September 2010, kick-off is set for 7:45 PM.

22 February 2011:
Copenhagen vs. Chelsea
Lyon vs. Real Madrid

The Champions League knockouts continue. Join the conversation below before, during and after the matches. The liveblog will start at 18:45 GMT, 1 hour before the matches kick off. You can sign up below for an email reminder.

Dissect the West Brom game as much as you want, but it won't make any difference to the result.

I sat through the whole game in the Clock End Upper (love saying that as opposed to the South Stand), right smack behind the goal, so had a wonderful vantage point over the course of the miserable afternoon.

Absolutely no-one in the world predicted that West Brom would beat Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend, so the quicker we draw the line under that one and forget it the better. So quickly on..... Tonights Champions League match at Partizan Belgrade could never be as easy as the 6-0 win over Braga, but surely the [.

Absolutely no-one in the world predicted that West Brom would beat Arsenal at the Emirates last weekend, so the quicker we draw the line under that one and forget it the better. So quickly on..... Tonights Champions League match at Partizan Belgrade could never be as easy as the 6-0 win over Braga, but surely the [.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has praised goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski following his side's Champions League victory. The Pole had another chance to shine as he stood in for the injured Manuel Almunia against Partizan Belgrade, and he put in an impeccable performance as the Gunners ran out 3-1 winners.

In line to start against Chelsea

In recent years, whenever Arsenal goes up against Chelsea, there will always be one name which scares us. Didier Drogba, the powerful Ivorian has definitely been a thorn in our side considering he has plundered in 12 goals in the last 10 competitive games he has played against us.

It's been two days since our win over in Belgrade and already everyone is looking towards the weekend fixture. Understandable since it's Chelsea and it's our biggest match of the season so far. Wenger has come out with the latest injury update. We all know that Vermaelen will be out but it looks ever likely that Cesc will not make it.

Calendario Champions League 2010-2011 Fecha 3
Martes 19 de Octubre de 2010
Spartak vs Chelsea 13:45 hrs
Arsenal vs Shakhtar 13:45 hrs
Braga vs P. Belgrade 13:45 hrs
R. Madrid vs Milan 13:45 hrs
Bayern vs CFR Cluj 13:45 hrs
Marseille vs Zilina 13:45 hrs
Ajax vs Auxerre 13:45 hrs
Roma vs FC Basel 13:45 hrs
Miércoles 20 de Octubre de 2010
Barcelona vs F.

By Richard Clarke
What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger.
Arsène Wenger knows the title bid of his Arsenal side was lucky to survive November. But, having done so, they are now in prime position to steal a march on their rivals during December.
The Frenchman took his team into eight games last month.

When I was growing up we used to joke that the Indian Cricket team always provided the audience with value for money in terms of thrills and chills. In those days the Indian cricketers had the ability to turn the easiest of wins into nail-biting encounters. Seems to me, Wenger has been inspired by that lot.

First-half Player of the Season:

1. Samir Nasri (Average Rating: 7.24, Man of the Match 5 times):

You could tell in preseason that Nasri was rested, motivated from his World Cup snub, and generally ready to kick some ass this season.

Our move for Adem Ljajic fell through a few months ago with the club claiming they were no longer interested in signing him. With former Partizan team mate Zoran Tosic failing to break in to the United team and likely to be sold off in the summer, it seemed to be a reasonable explanation.

However, the player's agent suggested the reason for the deal collapsing was United's lack of funds.

The Munich air crash in 1958 en route home from a European Cup quarter final success in Belgrade became a defining feature of United's identity. The improbable Champions League finale 41 years later...
Continue to the full story

Serbian international Zoran Tosic sent out another message to Old Trafford boss Sir Alex Ferguson with another two goal salvo just two weeks after he put away a nice brace in Hannover. Watching just how smoothly the 22 year old takes both goals must have had an effect on the Man United boss as he considers whether he will look to bring the talented winger back into the fold.

The 30 man provisional World Cup squad has been announced in Belgrade by Radomir Antic.There are not many surprises in the selection, with the only notable absences being squad regulars Bosko Jankovic and Ivica Dragutinovic who had already been ruled out of contention due to injury. Antic will cut the squad .

If you'd like to read some words of mine and from others that will never appear online, you may be interested in purchasing the inaugural issue of The Portage, a soccer zine with a global focus published out of Chicago by WB05 and co-edited by myself.

The first issue contains six original, lengthy essays on the World Cup, covering the history of the event, the meaning of global fandom and the past and future of the World Cup in Chicago, as follows:

The Summer of '94 // Marc Bahnsen
Football's Coming Home?

Dejan Stanković (Serbian Cyrillic: Дејан Станковић; born 11 September 1978 in Belgrade) is a Serbian footballer who currently plays for the Italian Serie A side Internazionale and the Serbian national team, which he captains. He is an attacking midfielder who can also play out wide on the wings or track back in a defensive midfield role.

I am probably watching soccer with the wrong person.

As my friend D. and I walk through the 40-degree heat of downtown Belgrade, where she grew up and returns in the summers, I spot a building-high vertical banner of an enthusiastic, fit young man in body paint hawking soda.

Following a strong weekend outing, Sacha Kljestan will hope to remain in coach Ariel Jacobs' plans as Anderlecht try to nail down a place in the Champions League group stage against Partizan Belgrade on Tuesday.

It's easy to imagine that all professional footballers are overpaid, lazy and selfish. But Milos Krasić is none of those things, because Milos Krasić will willingly fork out €10,000 of his own money to make sure he doesn't miss a training session. The man must love shuttle runs.

The Croatian midfielder recently signed for Juventus from CSKA Moscow in a reported €15m deal, but then found traveling from Moscow to Juventus a little like the movie Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

Photograph: Michael Steele/Getty Images

The Guardian looks at the Champions League Draw and how the English clubs (4) are placed: English clubs largely had reasons to be pleased with the draw for the Champions League group stages, which took place in Monaco this afternoon. Manchester United will travel to Scotland to take on Sir Alex Ferguson's former club Rangers with Valencia and the Turkish champions Bursaspor completing Group C.

I was approached by a writer who works for a popular travel comparison site wanting to give Arsenal fans information ahead of their ventures into Europe for the Champions League. I thought it would be a good idea and something quite unique. Your feedback is appreciated and I hope this is of help..

Injuries are always going to happen, but I'd much rather they happen now than a few months down the line.

If we are lucky Theo will just miss this weekends game against Bolton at home which is no real biggie, Robin van Persie will be missing for Bolton, Braga, Sunderland, Spurs, West Brom, Belgrade, Chelsea and Birmingham the majority of them we can survive without him.

And finally we come to the last Group, Group H where Arsenal are favourites to top the Group with the other three challengers Braga, Partizan Belgrade and Shakhtar Donetsk fighting it out for second spot. Below is all the info on the clubs.

Full Name: Arsenal

Nickname: The Gunners

Founded: 1886

Ground: Emirates Stadium

Capacity: 60,355

Manager: Arsene Wenger

Nation: England

Home Colours: Red

Dangerman: Cesc Fabregas

Winners: Never

Full Name: SC Braga

Nickname: Os Arcebispos (The Archbishops)

Founded: 1921

Ground: Estadio Axa

Capacity: 30,054

Manager: Domingos Paciencia

Nation: Portugal

Home Colours: Red and White

Dangerman: Elton

Winners: Never

Full Name: Partizan Belgrade

Nickname: The Black and Whites

Founded:1945

Ground: FK Partizan

Capacity: 32,710

Manager: Aleksander Stanojevic

Nation: Serbia

Home Colours: Black and White

Dangerman: Sasa Ilic

Winners: Never

Full Name: Shakhtar Donetsk

Nickname: Hirnyki (Miners)

Founded: 1936

Ground: Donbass Arena

Capacity: 51,504

Manager: Mircea Lucescu

Nation: Ukraine

Home Colours: Black and Orange

Dangerman: Eduardo

Winners: Never

>> Click Here To Watch Arsenal Vs Braga Live Now <<

Arsenal Vs Braga Live Streaming & Match Preview
Champions League – Arsenal Vs Braga Live Online Click Here
Wednesday, 15th September 2010
Kick Off : 19:45 BST
Venue : Emirates Stadium, London

The Champions League fixture between Arsenal and Portuguese side Braga will be played at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday 15th September 2010, kick-off is set for 7:45 PM.

Como ya es costumbre debemos de ver el fútbol de la mejor calidad y este 2010 y 2011 habrá mucho fútbol internacional del mejor nivel.
Hagan sus apuestas y pronósticos europeos.

Martes 14 de Septiembre de 2010
FC Twente 2-2 Inter
Werder 2 -2 Tottenham
Lyon 1-0 Schalke 04
Benfica 2-0 H.

He is certain to miss Saturday's game at West Bromwich Albion as well as the trip to Serbia to take on Partizan Belgrade in the Champions League.

He joins Theo Walcott, Robin van Persie, Thomas Vermaelen, Abou Diaby, Aaron Ramsey and Nicklas Bendtner on the treatment table.

The actual home team treatment room at the Emirates.

Right gooners, making my preparations to head off to the Emms for the WBA game... got a feeling we may draw the same team in the Carling Cup at lunchtime today aswell(?)

3-0 should do it today and there is a real possibilty of JET getting a game today, which is not the worst idea ahead of Belgrade and West London.

Arsenal lengthy injury list just got another name added to it, and the good news is that it is Manuel Almunia that has another one of his mystery "elbow" problems. "We have Manual Almunia out," said Wenger. "He has a problem with his elbow. He caught it when he made the penalty on Saturday." It is more likely [.

You might wonder about the headlines but that is exactly how Arsene Wenger described Arsenal's performance against West Brom on Saturday. He said this; "What is the most frustrating is that there was no electricity there. We had lost a generator and then it becomes difficult to play football.

Here we go again! It's time to get back on track, iron out our failings and learn from our mistakes. Simples.

Of course, losing is part of the rich tapestry of football. But losing while seemingly having forgotten the basics is harder to shrug off.

If you fall off a horse, they say, the best thing to do is get straight back in the saddle.

I have to be honest and say that prior to my research I knew little of Partizan Belgrade, not even knowing which country they represent (my geography tuition ending prior to the destruction of Yugoslavia). I read that they are top of their League and have won the Serbian League and Cup double for the past 2 years.

Saturday was painful, losing at home to West Brom was totally unexpected and in a way, embarrassing. But luckily, we can immediately bounce back as we travel to Serbia to face Partizan Belgrade in what promises ...

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger told reporters after the 3-1 win over Partizan Belgrade that Thomas Vermaelen will not be fit for Sunday's trip to Chelsea, while captain Cesc Fabregas has a "little chance."

Guessed right

This was not an easy game. On this showing it is easy to understand why Partizan Belgrade has been unbeaten in their home stadium for over 3 seasons now. Yet, that only happened when they had 11 men on the field and once they had a defender sent off, it was only one winner in this game and it was Arsenal.