Football writer Ben Bloom previews Wednesday's UEFA Champions League fixtures involving Premier League clubs, following Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid, Villarreal 0-2 Manchester City, and Newcastle United 3-0 Benfica on Tuesday.
Chelsea v Ajax
Wednesday 22 October, 20:00
This has been a season to forget for Ajax so far, and it would be little surprise if manager John Heitinga is feeling the pressure.
His side sit above only Champions League minnows Kairat in the 36-team league, without a point or goal in their opening two matches, which they lost 2-0 against Inter and 4-0 in Marseille.
The Dutch side also lost 2-0 at home to AZ Alkmaar over the weekend, leaving them nine points off the pace in the Eredivisie, with just one win in their last six games across all competitions.
Their line could well be led by former Burnley and Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst as they bid for a first win in 11 meetings against English teams, dating back to a Champions League semi-final first-leg win over Spurs in 2018/19 – a tie they famously lost at the death in the return fixture.
After back-to-back Premier League defeats in September, Enzo Maresca has now guided his Chelsea side to significant victories over Liverpool and Nottingham Forest this month.
The latter cost Ange Postecoglou his job and saw Chelsea move up to fifth in the table, despite having to cope with a raft of injuries to senior players including Cole Palmer and Enzo Fernandez.
They lost to Bayern Munich in their Champions League opener before ruining Mourinho’s Stamford Bridge return by narrowly seeing off Benfica.
Eintracht Frankfurt v Liverpool
Wednesday 22 October, 20:00
This time a month ago, the season looked almost too easy for Liverpool. The defending Premier League champions had not dropped a point in the defence of their title and opened their Champions League campaign with victory over Atletico Madrid, albeit courtesy of a stoppage-time winner.
Performances were not great, but wins were frequent.
Four matches later and Arne Slot finds himself in uncharted territory. Defeat against Frankfurt would be the first time Liverpool have lost five straight games since 1953.
The hope, and expectation, is that it will not come to that. Frankfurt have only played in the Champions League once before and Liverpool are unbeaten in 14 matches against German teams.
But Liverpool’s last European defeat came against Galatasaray – a side that Frankfurt hammered 5-1 in their first Champions League outing, before losing to Atletico Madrid by the same scoreline.
What the game should offer is plenty of goals. All 10 Frankfurt matches this season have seen at least three scored. Remarkably, four of them have delivered six goals or more.
The Germans have conceded a majority of them, and head into this game off the back of a loss and draw in the Bundesliga.
That should be music to the ears of Liverpool forward Hugo Ekitike, as he returns to face the club he left in the summer.
Meanwhile, Slot's side will be without key midfielder Ryan Gravenberch, who twisted his ankle during the second half of Sunday's 2-1 defeat at home to Manchester United.
Monaco v Tottenham Hotspur
Wednesday 22 October, 20:00
Perhaps it is preferable for Thomas Frank’s side that this match is taking place in Monaco rather than north London.
Continuing a dismal run of home form this season, Frank's Tottenham Hotspur team lost 2-1 when hosting Aston Villa on Sunday, and they are indebted to their away results for currently occupying sixth spot in the Premier League.
The hosts come into this match under new management, having ditched Adi Hutter during the international break and appointed former Royale Union Saint-Gilloise boss Sebastien Pocognoli.
His first game in charge was an underwhelming 1-1 draw with Angers over the weekend, which leaves Monaco winless in their last four games.
They lost 4-1 to Club Brugge in their Champions League opener, while their poor form leaves them seventh in Ligue 1, still waiting for their first clean sheet of the season.
The match should have seen Monaco’s Eric Dier reunited with the club he played 365 times for across 10 seasons.
But the unlikely scorer of a last-ditch penalty equaliser to rescue a 2-2 draw against Man City in their last Champions League match has been ruled out with a muscle injury.
Spurs have their own defensive injury issues, with Cristian Romero and Destiny Udogie both unable to feature in Sunday’s defeat to Villa.