Soccer Saturday pundit Charlie Nicholas gives us his Champions League predictions for the four games involving Premier League clubs.
Atalanta 1-2 Manchester City
Atalanta got battered after taking the lead at the Etihad. Pep Guardiola is not overly happy with his side. He said the possession and patience was good but he wasn’t happy - this was partly due to the way Southampton played.
City’s defence is all over the place. Jon Stones is not in control at the moment and it has been a major step back for him. Fernandinho is not a centre-half, but Nicolas Otamendi is back so it should help of sorts.
Pep will want to get this done and dusted as quickly as possible with the Liverpool game on Sunday. Both respective side will want to get their games over with so they can make preparations for Sunday’s clash.
Atalanta will attack and this will open the game up for City. It will be tricky to navigate but they will get there.
Red Star Belgrade 1-2 Tottenham
Red Star Belgrade put themselves in the shop window when they play at home but they freeze away from home.
Red Star are not fooled by what they have to do, but they will have been embarrassed by what they went through in London. If Harry Kane is fit, does Christian Eriksen drop out? Dele Alli scoring against Everton forces the hand there, but where does Lucas Moura stand? Tottenham are only a point above Red Star.
Bayern Munich will cruise through this group and it is about who finishes second. If they don’t go through, there will be major questions asked and a lot of players and staff will come under scrutiny.
Tuesday's predictions
Liverpool 2-0 Genk
I watched the Liverpool game at the weekend. It was a cracking game, end to end with drama too. Liverpool are not at their best. People might suggest that once they get going, they will be ruthless, but they are getting away with it currently.
The Napoli and Manchester United matches were reality checks, but they could have been two or three down by the time they got a rescue act at Aston Villa.
Liverpool have a dramatic amount of games coming up. Mohamed Salah was really average at the weekend, as was Roberto Firmino, so Jurgen Klopp may leave a couple out and change it up.
The full-backs will stay the same and you have to leave Sadio Mane in - Fabinho could come back in. It is normally Firmino who he rests, but I would leave him in with Mane and leave Salah out, he may not like it but it needs to happen.
Divock Origi and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will come in. It will be a fairly comfortable night nevertheless for Liverpool.
A hefty 55 per cent of Super 6 players are backing Liverpool to win by two or more goals in Tuesday’s round, while 99 per cent are backing a routine win for Jurgen Klopp’s men. What will you predict with £250k on the line? Play for free.
Chelsea 2-1 Ajax
This is a tasty fixture. We see a lot of what Ajax have done. They sold three or four key men in the summer and it makes them weaker, but it does not change their style or the manager’s philosophy. Chelsea wining there was a sensational result, but there is not much between them.
I still feel there are a few hiccups along the way - you cannot bully Ajax with the ball, but you can without it. Chelsea will want to get the technical edge over Ajax so we have a great game here.
You can still see weaknesses in both teams, but it will be another fantastic result for Frank Lampard.
Ajax come to Stamford Bridge looking for revenge after their previous encounter, with 13 per cent of Super 6 players hoping for an away win. Who do you think will prevail with £250k up for grabs?
Odds correct at 1655 GMT (05/11/19)
