Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
After the eight games that took place last night it’s now time for the remaining fixtures of Matchday 2 this evening and the biggest clash of the night will be The Battle of Britain between Celtic and Manchester City at Celtic Park. Can Brendan Rodgers be the man to end Pep Guardiola’s 100% record in all competitions?
If he is to be that man then his Celtic side are going to have to play a lot better than in their first game when they were trounced 7-0 by Barcelona at The Nou Camp. That was an embarrassing night for The Hoops and they will be looking to bounce back in the best possible way by getting a result in front of their own fans in what is set to be a sell out crowd.
They breezed past Kilmarnock over the weekend in league action and are already 4 points clear at the top of the SPFL Premiership and you would be hard pressed to see them not win the title again come the end of the season. Tonight the visit of City will be a real test for Brendan Rodgers and his men.
Pep Guardiola’s side travel here without Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne who limped off in their 3-1 win away at Swansea on Saturday, that was the only blot on a near perfect afternoon for Guardiola’s men as they continued their perfect start to the season.
Borussia Moenchengladbah were no match for them in the opening group game as Sergio Aguero was on hand to score a hat-trick as they eased to victory at The Etihad. With a tie against Barcelona to come next they would love to go into that encounter with maximum points.
That is no doubt going to be a huge clash not just for City but for Pep Guardiola also but he must make sure his City side don’t slip up away at Celtic first. It will certainly be a hostile environment for City this evening and the partisan home crowd will play a huge part in the game as they look to end City’s invincible start to the season.
There have been some historic European nights at Celtic Park over the last few years can there be another one tonight or will Pep’s mean make it 11 from 11.
The other team flying the flag for England tonight are Arsenal and come into the game full of confidence after their 3-0 demolition of Chelsea on Saturday evening.
Tonight they go up against Swiss side Basel and will look to add to the point they earned in their opening group game against French champions PSG.They were perhaps lucky that Edinson Catania forgot his shooting boots that night and you would imagine that the Arsenal defence will be in for an easier time this evening.
Arsenal are in a purple patch of form as they are unbeaten in all competitions since the opening weekend and they will look to continue that run over a Basel side who themselves drew in their opening game.
That means the group is wide open but it also means that Arsenal’s point in Paris was a particularly good one and you would have to imagine that Arsenal will once again go through to the knockout stages this season. I imagine it will be a routine win for Arsene Wenger’s men at The Emirates.
