With the Champions League group stages are underway, two TEAMtalk writers debate which English side will go furthest in the competition.
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Which English club will go furthest in the Champions League?
The Premier League's four representatives go into the Champions League with varying pedigrees.
Liverpool return to the competition after a five-year absence; Manchester City have yet to make their mark on the biggest club stage, despite their domestic triumphs; Arsenal are consistently involved but have never won it; while Chelsea are the most recent.
Who will go furthest, though? Pete Hall and Ian Watson have their say...
Pete Hall - Arsenal
The Champions League can either make or break a team's season, as Liverpool so impressively proved last time out.
The Reds excelled without the distraction of Europe's premier competition last season, and in the process, they came the closest they have come to clinching their first top flight title in 24 years.
Chelsea on the other hand faltered at the final hurdle as Manchester City grabbed their second Premier League crown, with the Blues' Champions League semi-final appearance taking much of the wind out of their sales.
This time around, Blues boss Jose Mourinho seems hell-bent on finishing top of the pile domestically, and therefore take precedence over exploits overseas.
A Luis Suarez-less Liverpool certainly don't seem the force they were last season, and will just be content to qualify from a group containing Galacticos of Real Madrid, especially in their first foray amongst Europe's elite in five years.
Manchester City have much to prove on the continent, having still not progressed further than the Round of 16 in their entire history, and with UEFA continuing their seemingly unscrupulous mission to hand City the toughest group stage draw imaginable, Manuel Pellegrini's men will be up against it just to oust German powerhouse Bayern Munich, a vastly improved Roma and Russian giants CSKA Moscow this time around.
However, despite a disappointing start on the banks of the Ruhr, Arsene Wenger can focus on the Champions League, and utilise all Arsenal's attacking ability on the biggest stage of all.
Wenger will surely know that Chelsea and Manchester City will take some stopping domestically, but on the continent, the Gunners' plethora of attacking midfield talent can utilise the extra space afforded to them to their advantage.
With their most difficult group match out of the way, Galatasaray and Anderlecht shouldn't provide stern enough opposition to prevent the Gunners from progressing to the knock-out rounds.
And when the last 16 does come around, with the likes of Danny Welbeck and Alexis Sanchez further integrated into the side, Arsenal can raise a few eyebrows and reach the latter stages of the Champions League purely by channelling all their efforts onto one competition, while the others focus on events much closer to home.
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Ian Watson - Chelsea:
Few teams have a better European pedigree over the last three years than Chelsea. Despite that, Mourinho has added to his squad to give a complete look, and there is no reason they cannot better last season's semi-final appearance, and repeat their 2012 triumph.
Relative newcomers Manchester City will certainly improve on their first three campaigns in the competition and will probably go deep into the knockout stages. Liverpool, too, will likely get out of their group, which will represent success to Brendan Rodgers.
Arsenal commenced their 17th consecutive group campaign on Tuesday, which demonstrates admirable consistency, but despite throwing big money at Sanchez and adding Welbeck to his ranks, Wenger once more failed in the transfer window to address the need for another centre-half and holding midfielder.
Again, they will probably emerge unscathed from Group D, but the Gunners are still not in a position to greatly concern the likes Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, especially given the threadbare nature of his defensive ranks and the domestic challenges they face.
Chelsea, on the other hand, certainly are. Unlike Wenger, Mourinho used the summer to address his squad's deficiencies; primarily their lack of a top-class striker.
Mourinho brought in Diego Costa and supplemented that purchase with the recruitment of Loic Remy and re-hiring of Didier Drogba. Costa has wasted no time in settling in at Stamford Bridge, similarly to Cesc Fabregas. The Spanish pair, along with Nemanja Matic, add strength, discipline, creativity and goals to a squad which reached the last four last season and should have won the Premier League.
They'll certainly go further than Arsenal, Pete...
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