Arsenal (4/9 Group, 20/1 Tournament)
2011-12 Champions League: Lost 3-4 on aggregate to AC Milan
in the Round of 16 (lost 4-0 away, won 3-0 home)
Manager: Arsene Wenger
Captain: Thomas Vermaelen
Another summer, another pair of top class players leaving
Arsenal only to be replaced with – at least on all the evidence that we have so
far during the Premier League season – two players of similar quality. It begs
the question why can’t Arsenal ever keep their best players, as you’d like to
think they could be real contenders for trophies and a much stronger European
force. Five of the first-choice outfield
starters from the 2010-11 season (Gael Clichy, Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas, Samir
Nasri, Robin van Persie) have left the club, with the departures of Song and
Van Persie over the summer hammer blows to any hopes of a European challenge.
To be fair to Wenger, he at least acted quickly in
preparations for the departures of Song and Van Persie for quicker than
Fabregas and Nasri’s departures over the last two seasons. Lukas Podolski was
brought in from Cologne for just £11m and already looks like a steal on the
basis of his three goals so far, while Oliver Giroud – Ligue 1’s joint top
goalscorer last year with 21 goals – came for £13m just a few weeks later.
Admittely he’s been the least impressive of the new players so far but there’s
still time for him to get on the scoresheet and his effectiveness probably
won’t matter until the latter stages. Both are the kind of player Arsenal have
long been accused of lacking over the past few seasons – an experienced forward
with a proven track record of goals –but even better is the addition of Santi
Cazorla from Malaga, a world class and crucially extremely versatile midfielder
at his best who was instrumental in pushing Malaga to fourth in La Liga last
season and has already dazzled in only a handful of appearances.
The rest of the team is in much the same mould as last
season – although Diaby’s injury is unfortunate and untimely especially in
European context – but there’s a worry that when they go on the road, Arsenal
lack the quality (in defensive terms especially) to really trouble the big
guns, as AC Milan showed last year.
Schalke (12/5 Group, 100/1 Tournament)
2011-12 Champions League: DNQ
Manager: Huub Stevens
Captain: Benedikt Howedes
Schalke have been knocking on the European door in recent
seasons, making the quarter finals of the Europa League – and being involved in
an absolute classic when going down 4-2 to finalists Athletic Bilbao – having
made the semi-finals of the 2010/11 Champions League as well.
With 60,000 going to the Veltins regularly it’s no surprise
that Schalke have the sixth biggest attendance and plenty of quality in a side
which has one of the hottest strikers in world football in the shape of Klaas
Jan Huntellar, scorer of an incredible 48 goals in 47 outings last term and
also of the two crucial goals second-half goals on the final day of last season
against Werder Bremen to ensure Schalke's place in the Champions League.
He is joined by the exciting midfield pairing of Lewis
Holtby – scorer of 16 in the league and 25 overall from midfield, while also
providing six assists once the campaign had gone – and Ibrahim Afellay, who played
a massive part in the destiny of this title when providing a superb assist for
Lionel Messi’s first goal in the semi-final against Real Madrid, only to be
criminally underused since. Exciting
youngster Julias Draxler gives the side another bit of thrust from wide areas
but the reality is that they should come up short against one of Europe’s
elite, although a long run would be no surprise at all.
Olympiakos (50/1 Group, 500/1 Tournament)
2011-12 Champions League: 3rd in Group F, DNQ for knockout
stages
Manager: Leonardo Jardim
Captain: Vasilis Torosidis
Olympiakos are known as one of the toughest trips in
football – they’ve won their domestic title in 12 of the last 14 season and did
the double last season – but they came up well short in Europe last season and
may well do so again this time around. A lack of funding – the Greek Super
League is as weak as it’s ever been thanks to the economic climate in recent
history.
Their home record is the cornerstone of their Champions
League season – they’ve won 34 out of their 50 games at home – but they’ve lost
44 on their travels, which made it so worrying that they were deservedly beaten
by Shackle in Piraus on Matchday 1 with Klaas Jan Huntellaar missing a penalty,
with trips to the Emirates and Veltins Arena to come.
There’s the main issue of quality in the side, which has
been severely affected by the losses over the summer of not only Olof Mellberg
and Parblo Orbais but 20 goal starlet Kevin Mirallas, who has showed the Greeks’
what they’re missing with some sterling performances for Everton so far this year.
There were only two other players to score more than four in the team last
year, which underlines their plight.
Montepllier (20/1 Group, 500/1 Tournament)
2011-12 Champions League: DNQ
Manager: Rene Girard
Captain: Mapou Yanga-Mbiwa
Montpellier’s fairytale Ligue 1 triumph last year over the
big spending PSG was the thing of legend but all good things must come to an
end and to say that Rene Girard’s side have made an underwhelming start to the
season would be an understatement in the least. Just two wins in 7 League
matches leaves them 13th in their defence of the title, while their
first foray into the Champions League saw them lose an early lead to Arsenal
despite a strong first half.
It begs the question; What happened? Many will point to the
depature of top scorer Oliver Giroud towards Arsenal, and his 21 goals—a tally
good enough to tie him at the league lead alongside Paris Saint-Germain's Nene –
were a huge part of their title victory last season. Not only that though, but
one of the tightest defences in France last year kept 13 clean sheets in 19
games, key to edging the battle with big money guns PSG.
Most of that was down to the excellent work of Mapou Yanga
Mbwia – now an established centre back with the National side – but the team
lacks any real star turns in the side apart from Younes Blehanda and Emilano
Herrera, both scorers of two goals in the League this season. Souleymane Camara
leads the scoring charts with three but none of them can expect to be going
very far in the league.
VERDICT: This should be between Arsenal and Schalke, both of
whom have excellent European group records and both of whom have far greater
talent than Olympiakos and Montpellier, who have lost their main strikers from
last season and looked vulnerable anyway in defeats on Matchday one.
Advice: No bet.
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