English quartet on song for third year running

This is the third consecutive year that the same four teams from the English Premiership will be playing in the Champions League.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United will be the English sides in the group phase of the tournament which gets underway next week.

In the last two years, the quartet have figured as follows:

2004-05: Arsenal, Manchester United (second round); Chelsea (semi-final); Liverpool (winners).

2005-06: Manchester United (group phase); Chelsea, Liverpool (second round); Arsenal (final).

While champions Chelsea and runners-up Manchester United earned a straight qualification, Arsenal and Liverpool had to go through the third qualifying round.

The Gunners saw off Croatia side Dinamo Zagreb 5-1 on aggregate - away 3-0 (Fabregas 2, Van Persie); home 2-1 (Ljungberg, Flamini).

Liverpool beat Israel's Maccabi Haifa 3-2 on two legs - home 2-1 (Bellamy, Gonzalez); neutral Kiev 1-1 (Crouch).

All four teams, having not met their opponents previously, will break the ice in Champions League football this year - Hamburg-Arsenal, Chelsea-W. Bremen, PSV-Liverpool, Manchester United-Celtic.

Bremen at the Bridge

In Group A, Chelsea, who were not seeded, will have to play Barcelona for the third consecutive year.

But their first group clash on Tuesday will be against Werder Bremen at Stamford Bridge. The other team in the group are Levski Sofia.

This will be the first encounter between Chelsea and Werder Bremen in European club competitions.

In one of the clashes the Blues had with German teams, the English side won the Cup Winners' Cup in 1998 at the expense of Stuttgart (1-0).

In the other four ties, the Londoners remained undefeated at their own patch, thus:

1965-66 (Fairs Cup QF) vs 1860 Munich: 1-0.

1999-00 (Champions League group match) vs Hertha Berlin 2-0.

2003-04 (Champions League second round) vs Stuttgart 0-0.

2004-05 (Champions League QF) vs Bayern Munich 4-2.

Kuyt back home

Also on Tuesday, Group B seeds Liverpool will be on their travels to play Dutch side PSV Eindhoven.

The PSV fans will surely be on the watch-out for Reds' new signing Dirk Kuyt (ex-Feyenoord). He was the country's top marksman in the league these last few years.

Liverpool fought relentlessly to edge out Israel side Maccabi Haifa. Last season, they also found this extra hurdle tough to surpass against CSKA Sofia. After a 3-1 away win they lost at home 0-1.

Old-time Liverpool fans will remember the 5-1 drubbing they received from Ajax in Amsterdam in the second round of the competition in 1966-67. At Anfield, the score was 2-2. Ajax won 7-3 on aggregate.

Liverpool have never met PSV before and in their other two connections with Dutch teams they held the upperhand thus:

1981-82 (European Cup second round) Liverpool-AZ '67 Alkmaar - Away 2-2, Home 3-2 (5-4).

2002-03 (UEFA Cup third round) Liverpool-Vitesse Arnhem - Away 1-0, Home 1-0 (2-0).

28th all-British clash

The last clash between sides from England and Scotland in Europe came in the group match of the 2003-04 Champions League when Manchester United did the double on Rangers - 1-0 (H) and 3-0 (A).

The only other occasion when United crossed swords with a Scottish side was in 1984-85, in the third round of the UEFA Cup. The Red Devils ousted Dundee Utd 5-4 on aggregate - 2-2 (H), 3-2 (A).

This will be the first time that United play Celtic in these encounters (Group H).

Last May, the two teams played each other at Old Trafford in Roy Keane's testimonial.

After 27 English-Scottish duels, clubs from England lead 19-8. Celtic have featured six times (never in Champions League):

1965-66 (Cup Winners' Cup SF) Liverpool-Celtic: home 2-0, away 0-1 (2-1).

1969-70 (European Cup SF) Celtic-Leeds: away 1-0, home 2-1 (3-1).

1983-84 (UEFA Cup third round) N. Forest-Celtic: home 0-0, away 2-1 (2-1).

1997-98 (UEFA Cup first round) Liverpool-Celtic: away 2-2, home 0-0 (2-2).

2002-03 (UEFA Cup second round) Celtic-Blackburn: home 1-0, away 2-0 (3-0).

2002-03 (UEFA Cup QF) Celtic-Liverpool: home 1-1, away 2-1 (3-1).

Top keeper

Arsenal's Jens Lehmann was named UEFA's club Goalkeeper of the Year for his heroics in last season's Champions League. He created a new record of clean sheets.

The Gunners will square up to Hamburg away in Group G.

The German keeper said that he was happy his side would finally play a Bundesliga team and that he had always looked forward to that.

Arsenal's away record to German clubs is not a healthy one, though.

1970-71 (Fairs Cup QF) Cologne 0-1.

1996-97 (UEFA Cup first round) B. Moenchengladbach 2-3.

1999-00 (UEFA Cup QF) Werder Bremen 4-2.

2000-01 (Champions League group match) Bayern Munich 0-1.

2001-02 (Champions League group match) Schalke 04 1-3.

2001-02 (Champions League group match) B. Leverkusen 1-1.

2002-03 (Champions League group match) B. Dortmund 1-2.

2004-05 (Champions League second round) Bayern Munich 1-3.