Champions League: Gravenberch misses Liverpool training; Fernandez returns for Chelsea
Summary
Your views before this week’s Champions League
Live Reporting
Written by Ben Ramsdale, Craig Nelson, Adwaidh Rajan & Karan Vinod.
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get involved Can Arsenal win a Champions League/Premier League double?published at 13:45 BST
Click ‘Get Involved’ at the top of this page to have your say
So Arsenal are unbeaten in the Champions League and top of the Premier League.
A great start, but have we been here before? Is anything different this time?
The growing consensus is that Mikel Arteta’s side – so strong in every department – is finally equipped to win one of the biggest prizes.
But could trophies for Arsenal be like that traditional saying about London buses [which is now patently untrue] – you wait ages for one, then two come along at once?
Tells us whether or not you believe Arsenal can win both the Premier League and Champions League this season, and why.
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How are English clubs faring in the Champions League?published at 13:38 BST
Champions League
Image source, BBC SportAll six English clubs in the Champions League find themselves in the top half of the 36-team league phase table after two matchdays.
But only one of them has maintained a perfect record – Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, who beat Athletic Club and Olympiakos in their first two games.
Manchester City and Tottenham have collected four points from their two matches, while Liverpool and Chelsea have both posted a win and a loss in their opening two fixtures.
Teams who finish in the top eight will qualify automatically for the last 16, while those who place ninth to 24th will compete in a two-legged knockout play-off for the chance to join them.
Whoever finishes 25th or lower will be eliminated, and will not enter the Europa League.
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Who is playing in Champions League this week?published at 13:32 BST
All kick-offs 20:0 BST unless stated
Champions LeagueTuesday, 21 October
- Barcelona v Olympiakos (17:45)
- Kairat v Pafos (17:45)
- Arsenal v Atletico Madrid
- Bayer Leverkusen v Paris St-Germain
- FC Copenhagen v Borussia Dortmund
- PSV Eindhoven v Napoli
- Newcastle v Benfica
- Union Saint-Gilloise v Inter Milan
- Villarreal v Man City
Wednesday, 22 October
- Athletic Club v Qarabag (17:45)
- Galatasaray v Bodo/Glimt (17:45)
- Atalanta v Slavia Prague
- Bayern Munich v Club Brugge
- Chelsea v Ajax
- Eintracht Frankfurt v Liverpool
- Monaco v Tottenham
- Real Madrid v Juventus
- Sporting v Marseille
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Postpublished at 13:31 BST
Craig Nelson
BBC Sport reporterBefore that, let’s just remind ourselves of this week’s Champions League games and how the table stands…
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Postpublished at 13:28 BST
Craig Nelson
BBC Sport reporterPlenty to think about for Arne Slot at the moment.
The hits just keep on coming…
Not to rub it in, Liverpool fans, but we are going to make a quick segue to a side where everything seems to be going right at the moment – Arsenal…
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Gravenberch a big miss for Liverpoolpublished at 13:20 BST
Eintracht Frankfurt v Liverpool (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Karan Vinod
BBC Sport JournalistLiverpool midfielder Ryan Gravenberch is absent from training ahead of the Champions League clash with Eintracht Frankfurt, continuing his recovery from the ankle injury sustained in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to Manchester United.
The Dutch midfielder has quickly become crucial to manager Arne Slot’s setup, operating as a defensive midfielder for Liverpool. His ability to break up opposition play, recycle possession, and shield the backline is unmatched within the current squad.
His absence also leaves a notable gap, particularly in transitional play, and it could force the manager to adjust his midfield setup for both domestic and European matches.
Curtis Jones is effectively the only other option capable of covering this position, but he does not offer the same defensive presence or control.
Liverpool’s defence has already conceded 15 goals in all competitions this season, and we are only in October, making Gravenberch’s absence even more significant.
Slot will need to adjust the midfield balance carefully, as how quickly Gravenberch returns could be decisive for stabilising the team ahead of crucial Champions League and domestic fixtures.
Image source, Getty Images -
No Gravenberch in Liverpool trainingpublished at 13:14 BST
Breaking
Eintracht Frankfurt v Liverpool (Wed, 20:00 BST)
You may have been watching Liverpool training before their Champions League clash against Eintracht Frankfurt earlier.
The news to come from it is that Ryan Gravenberch and Alisson were both missing from the session.
Alisson is recovering from a hamstring injury sustained in the Galatasaray game, while Gravenberch is nursing an ankle injury from Sunday’s 2-1 loss to Manchester United.
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Postpublished at 13:12 BST
Ben Ramsdale
BBC SportWolves fans just minding their own business today and still having shots fired at them.
Bet they wish they had a few more shots on goal eh? Eh?
No?
Moving on.
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get involved Get Involvedpublished at 13:07 BST
Click ‘Get Involved’ at the top of this page to have your say
With their current rate I think Chelsea may end up with more red cards than Wolves have goals.
Harry, Manchester
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Maresca and Tosin bat away indiscipline narrativepublished at 13:02 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporterThere is no doubt the underlying interest was around indiscipline and the response at Chelsea’s press conference against Ajax was clear.
Both Enzo Maresca and Chelsea’s oldest player, Tosin Adarabiayo, batted away concerns about the accumulation of four red cards in four consecutive matches.
The Blues already had a poor record of red and yellow cards but it has got worse lately.
Yet the two figures talking ahead of the Champions League league phase match denied any concerns.
Maresca says he prefers not to discipline players for sending offs but Tosin acknowledged there a player-led fine system in place.
With a smile, the defender also no commented how much fine money is in the kitty for the upcoming Christmas party after the recent spate of red cards.
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Enzo Maresca building ‘escape velocity’published at 12:55 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Nizaar Kinsella
BBC Sport Chelsea reporterChelsea are trying to build enough ‘escape velocity’ to see off problems related to injury, form, and a high workload caused by the Club World Cup in the summer.
Escape velocity, in space exploration and astronomy, is the momentum needed to propel an object away from a gravitational centre, like a planet.
In this case, those aforementioned problems were apparent despite Chelsea’s 3-0 win at Nottingham Forest on Saturday – an even match that the Blues won through superior finishing rather than brilliant all-round play.
Dutch giants Ajax, in their current guise, are very beatable, and a win would be Chelsea’s fourth in a row across all competitions, putting them in a strong position in the Champions League league stage.
That would nicely tee up a busy period of six games in 18 days from the end of October to the mid-November international break.
Image source, Getty Images -
Chelsea’s Champions League fixturespublished at 12:50 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Image source, Getty ImagesChelsea got their Champions League campaign back on track with a 1-0 win at home to Jose Mourinho’s Benfica after opening with a 3-1 defeat at German champions Bayern Munich.
They are 18th in the fledgling table, one of 13 teams on three points after two games.
Remember, the top eight go straight through to the last 16, while teams that finish from ninth to 24th go into a play-off round.
Here are the six remaining games in the league phase for Enzo Maresca’s side:
- 22 Oct: Ajax (h)
- 05 Nov: Qarabag (a)
- 25 Nov: Barcelona (h)
- 09 Dec: Atalanta (a)
- 21 Jan: Pafos (h)
- 28 Jan: Napoli (a)
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Postpublished at 12:47 BST
Ben Ramsdale
BBC SportAnd that’s Enzo Maresca wrapped up.
There were plenty of managers speaking yesterday before their respective teams’ European fixtures including Mikel Arteta, Pep Guardiola and Eddie Howe.
Unfortunately for us we’d clocked off for the day by the time they were up but we’ll bring you the best of what they had to say shortly.
First up though, a round up of what awaits the Blues in Europe.
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Chelsea’s run of red cardspublished at 12:44 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Image source, Getty ImagesEnzo Maresca’s memory of his players’ red cards this season was a little foggy there, so let’s clear it up.
Including the manager’s dismissal against Liverpool, Chelsea have received red cards in four consecutive matches across all competitions and five in six games.
Here’s the five Chelsea players/manager to have been shown a red card in their last six games:
- Nottm Forest 0-3 Chelsea – Malo Gusto (87 mins)
- Chelsea 2-1 Liverpool – Enzo Maresca (96 mins)
- Chelsea 1-0 Benfica – Joao Pedro (96 mins)
- Chelsea 1-3 Brighton – Trevoh Chalobah (53 mins)
- Lincoln 1-2 Chelsea – no red card
- Man Utd 2-1 Chelsea – Robert Sanchez (5 mins)
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Maresca on using his parenting skills to improve disciplinepublished at 12:40 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
More from Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on what he hopes to do to help his players improve their discipline: “Personally, I’m not that kind of manager to punish players. In my view, I don’t think it is the right way to do things. I prefer to help them understand and then from there, do the right things.
“Joao Pedro red card against Benfica was the last minutes of the game. Malo Gusto was last minutes of the game. So it depends. They are different kinds of red cards, but it is something you have to do better.”
On using his parenting style as a football manager: “I have four kids, when they do something wrong, I do not punish them. I try to teach them to do the right things. I try to do this with the players too. This is the way I like to do things.”
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Watch live: Liverpool trainingpublished at 12:36 BST
Ben Ramsdale
BBC SportWe’ve still got updates to bring you from Enzo Maresca’s news conference but just a reminder that we also have Liverpool training live for you to watch on this page.
The stream has just begun at the top of the page so Arne Slot’s Reds are expected on the field shortly. Click ‘watch live’ if that floats your boat.
We’ll also bring you text updates if anything extraordinary happens from that session.
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‘Something we have to improve’ – Maresca on disciplinepublished at 12:33 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on his side’s tally of red cards this season: “For sure, it’s something we can do better. I think with some of the red cards, we could avoid that. For instance, I think the Malo [Gusto] one is completely avoidable because the game is almost finished. As I said after the Nottingham game, the other side, they do not want to concede and they want to continue to be aggressive.
“For sure, when you concede five or six red cards, I don’t know exactly how many, for sure that is something you have to improve.”
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Delap close to returnpublished at 12:28 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on the fitness of stiker Liam Delap: “Liam is very close. He is not working with us yet. He is still out. Hopefully he can start in the next days to start taking sessions with us.”
Image source, Getty Images -
‘Guiu is going to play games for sure’published at 12:24 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on his attacking options with Joao Pedro suspended: “We have him [Marc Guiu] we have also Tyrique [George]. He played games as a nine in the past. He did well. He played I think against Benfica as a nine so we have different options. We will see. We have one more session this afternoon and then we decide.”
On Guiu: “We trust Marc [Guiu]. We trust him last year, he was playing in the Conference League. We gave him some Premier League games. We show in the past that we trust Marc. Now he is again with us and he’s going to play games, for sure.”
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‘We have to protect Enzo’published at 12:20 BST
Chelsea v Ajax (Wed, 20:00 BST)
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca on the fitness of Enzo Fernandez: “Enzo took part in the session yesterday, we have one more session and we will see what we do tomorrow. It’s not something to be worried about but we just have to protect Enzo.”
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