Manchester United to prove a point, Manchester City could even give Benjamin Mendy a run-out and can Tottenham get back on track? This week’s biggest Champions League talking points
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IT'S the final round of fixtures in the Champions League group stages and things are looking good for all of the English clubs.
Manchester City, Tottenham and Chelsea are already in the hat for the last-16 and Liverpool and Manchester United are very short-priced favourites to join them too.
Five out of the last 16 in Europe’s blue riband event?
Who’d have thought it?
Tuesday 5 December
Group A - Manchester United v CSKA Moscow
The defeat to Basel last time out put a small spanner in the works as United seemed set to sail through to the last-16.
While a point will be sufficient for Mourinho’s men to win their group here there remains a hugely unlikely nightmare scenario where they might not qualify at all.
For that to happen, CSKA need to win at Old Trafford by seven or more goals and rely on Basel to beat Benfica in the other game.
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Is that going to happen?
Well, given that United have never lost to CSKA in their five meetings to date (W3, D2) and have once more made Old Trafford into the fortress of old, then no, it isn’t.
And while they’re without Fellaini, Bailly, Jones and Carrick, they should have more than enough to book their place in the next phase as group winners.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: UNITED WIN
Group C - Chelsea v Atletico Madrid
There may be a temptation for Antonio Conte to give some of his fringe players a run-out here, given that Chelsea are already through, but that would be an exercise fraught with danger.
Yes, the Blues are in the last-16 but they’ll want to win the group, just to ensure an easier passage in the next round, not that it always works out that way.
What complicates matters is that Atletico have to yet to win or even score on their travels in the Champions League and they have to have any chance of progressing.
But even that might not be enough for Diego Simeone’s side as they also need Roma to drop points at home to Qarabag and that’s about as likely as Boris Johnson saying sorry.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: SCORE DRAW
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Wednesday 6 December
Group E - Liverpool v Spartak Moscow
There’s a real spring in Liverpool’s step at the moment.
The Reds have scored three goals or more in seven of their last eight games, including five at Brighton on Saturday, and they’re unbeaten in their last 12 home games (W7, D5).
Even the defence are getting their you know what together too. Unbelievable.
The challenge for Jurgen Klopp is to translate their fine domestic form recently on to the bigger stage of the Champions League.
The Reds have been on pole position in Group E for some time now but still need a draw to qualify for the last-16 or a victory to top the group.
Spartak will also go through with a win.
You can’t see anything other than a Liverpool win here though.
Wee Phil Coutinho is back to his majestic best and in Mo Salah they have a player who is scoring goals for fun at the moment.
Well, fun and many, many, many thousands of pounds a week as well.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: LIVERPOOL WIN
Group F - Shakhtar Donetsk v Manchester City
Another chance for City to reinforce their status as one of the competition’s favourites here as they seek to continue their flawless start.
In fact, if they win here they’ll join an elite club of just five other teams that have won all six of their group games in the Champions League.
It’s not going to be cut and dried though. Shakhtar boast a strong home record against English clubs, winning four and drawing twice in the six games they played against them.
The fact that they need a point to progress will be all the incentive they need to give it a real go too.
It’ll be interesting to see what team Pep Guardiola puts out tonight, given that they’re already through as the group winners.
There’s no Kevin De Bruyne (suspended) or John Stones (hamstring) so if I were him, I’d give Benjamin Mendy a run-out.
He seemed just fine when he was hobbling along the touchline to celebrate Raheem Sterling’s late
winner against Southampton last week, didn’t he?
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: DRAW
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Group H - Tottenham v Apoel
So what Spurs are going to turn up?
The team that blasted reigning champions Real Madrid off the Wembley pitch or the team that lost to Leicester and wobbled at Watford?
Like City, though, Spurs are already through to the next round as group winners, thanks to their superior head-to-head record over second-placed Real Madrid.
It’s a good job really as their domestic form of late has been dreadful.
They’ve only won one of their last six league games (D2, L3), scoring just four goals along the way.
They’ve already lost four league games this season too and that’s the same number of defeats they suffered in their entire 2016-17 Premier League campaign.
That said, they’ve been excellent at home in this competition, winning both games at Wembley against Borussia Dortmund and Real Madrid 3-1.
The only incentive for bottom-placed Apoel, meanwhile, is that a win will give them a place in the Europa League... Great.
SUNSPORT PREDICTION: SPURS WIN