Sport - Football

English clubs look to continue good run

LONDON: Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea look to continue England’s record success in this season’s Champions League when they play in the quarterfinals this week.

With four of the last eight clubs coming from the same country for the first time, only FC Barcelona’s match at Schalke doesn’t involve an English team.

Premier League leader Manchester United is up against AS Roma, Chelsea is at Turkey’s Fenerbahce, and five-time European champion Liverpool is at Arsenal — a match that guarantees England at least one team in the semifinals.

United looks to be the form team in the competition and goes into Tuesday’s match at Stadio Olimpico on a run of six straight Premier League wins.

Roma’s attempt to repel United took a hit when leading scorer Francesco Totti was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

But United, which routed Roma 7-1 at Old Trafford in last season’s tournament, could have injury problems of its own. Michael Carrick, Patrice Evra and Rio Ferdinand were all substituted against Villa, and United played the last five minutes with 10 men after Ryan Giggs left the field.

Liverpool continues its attempt to reach a second straight final on Wednesday when it meets Arsenal, which beat defending champion AC Milan in the last round.

With a Premier League match scheduled for Saturday and the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinal next week, the clubs will meet three times in six days.

Liverpool is coming off a morale-boosting 1-0 win over city rival Everton, with Arsenal also on a high after keeping alive its Premier League title challenge by rallying from 2-0 down to beat Bolton 3-2.

And Chelsea is confident ahead of Wednesday’s match against a team that won 2-1 at Besiktas on Saturday to consolidate first place in the Turkish championship. — AP

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu