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Liverpool draw Gunners in quarters


In the UEFA Champions League quarter final draw on Friday, Liverpool drew Arsenal to set up an all English quarter final match and to ensure that there will be at least one English team in the semi-finals.

On the same side of the draw, Chelsea drew Fenerbahce and in what would seem on paper to be a kind draw for Chelsea since they play the second leg at home.

But it is actually Fenerbahce that can decide whether they can be a premiership side in the final because if they were to win their quarter final match and then the semi then they would have denied Chelsea and the winner between Liverpool and Arsenal a chance to reach the final.

Fenerbahce have been so good in the Champions League this season and they played very well against Seville to force a penalty shoot out which they won and I will not be surprised to see them oust Chelsea.

On the Arsenal/Liverpool match I think that the Gunners will sail through to the semis despite playing the second leg at Anfield. The young Gunners side have been gaining confidence with each round and I think they will be able to overcome the more experienced Liverpool side.

On the other side of the draw Manchester United will play Roma for the third time in two seasons and I think its going to be two tight matches. This time Roma have to win comfortably at home and not lose like they did last season in order to reach the last four.

In their group matches this season, Roma lost 1 nil at Old Trafford and could only draw one all at home and they have to do better than that to deny Sir Alex Ferguson's team a second successive semi-final place.

In the last match Barcelona will meet Schalke 04 and I think Barca should win this one. Barcelona will play the last leg at home and that should give them a huge advantage but Schalke could cause an upset especially if they win the first leg like they did against Porto.

So there are some appetising ties for the quarters but should Liverpool and Chelsea win their respective matches I think we will have another boring Liverpool/Chelsea match which will likely have as few goals as possible. I hope that does not happen.

mbareboy
.....Pool are a differentdiffrent team in the UCL and somehow Rafa seems to get his tactics right. And at the moment he has managed to transfer the winning touch to the EPL so their confidence is high as well.

While I fancy Arsenal to go through, I am worried by their depth to sustain the three legged adventure. Pool have got the edge when it comes to stamina I think. Man U look the most vulnerable to me. Their influential player, Ronaldo, is a perennial underperformer in the UCL. Chelsea have a tricky fixture, but I put my money on them going through.
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Wes
Playing three games in a row against the same team is going to be interesting for the Gunners. If Chelsea wins against Fenerbahce, I think it will be better to have Arsenal win so that we avoid watching another two matches between Liverpool and Chelsea.


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clive
Benitez said Europe was easy and now lets see if he can get past Arsenal. Arsenal are stuttering in the league at the moment and I am thinking that if Liverpool wins the two legs over Arsenal then they will be crowned European champions again this season.
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Wes
But Clive, there is nothing to suggest that Liverpool will steam roll past Chelsea or Fenerbahce at the moment. But I agree that if they get past Arsenal they could be too hard to beat from and one the reasons would be because they can afford to just concentrate on the Champions League for the rest of the season.
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