Source: Daily_Mail
Champions League live: Arsenal v Braga, Zilina v Chelsea
The Champions League continues tonight as London duo Arsenal and Chelsea start their campaigns against teams making their debut in the group stage. The Gunners host Portugese side Braga, while the Blues visit Slovakia's Zilina. Follow all the latest action with Sportsmail, where you can email me your thoughts on tonights events at dan.ripley@dailymail.co.uk[LNB] Champions LeagueArsenal 3-0 Braga[LNB]Zilina 0-3 Chelsea[LNB]20.38: Just seen 'that' pass from Wilshere again and it is deliberate, and it is wonderful, makes you proud to be English.[LNB]20.33: Any of those who argue that the potential mis-matches in the Champions League group stages devalue the competition...here's your evidence.[LNB]20.32: Half-time: Arsenal 3-0 Braga[LNB]20.31: Half-time: Zilina 0-3 Chelsea[LNB]20.27: Six first half goals, and all from the English sides, in truth it is a fair reflection on their domination of their respective games.[LNB]20.22: Chelsea still attacking at Zilina but looking at Arsenal's third, I can't work out whether Wilshere's pass was deliberate.[LNB]He seems to go to play it with his back heel, but instead makes contact with the side of his foot. It completely beat the Braga defence regardless, though I still want to see that again![LNB] Through the legs: Chamakh finishes a superb Arsenal move in style[LNB]20.18: GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Braga[LNB]It's raining goals! Marounae Chamakh plays a lovely one-two with Jack Wilshere in the box, with the latter completely fooling the defence with an outrageous piece of skill in his pass back to the Moroccan cool as you like fires in to the bottom corner.[LNB] Goal Russ-ian: Arshavin doubles Arsenal's lead[LNB]20.16: GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Braga[LNB]Lovely run from Fabregas, he waltzes through the Braga defence who are too scared to go near him, before he threads a pass through to Andrey Arshavin who from inside the box rockets past Felipe's near post.[LNB]20.14: GOAL! Zilina 0-3 Chelsea[LNB]John Terry rises highest from a corner to header against the crossbar, where the resultant rebound falls to the unmarked Nicolas Anelka, who from two yards out must think it's Christmas as he casually grabs his second of the night.[LNB] Sharp: Anelka wasted no chances in doubling Chelsea's lead[LNB]20.10: GOAL! Zilina 0-2 Chelsea[LNB]Two shots, two goals. Florent Malouda finds Nicolas Anelka with a through ball and his low shot across goal easily beats Martin Dubravka, who doesn't cover himself in glory, as he lets the ball skate under him.[LNB]Goal-den touch: Essien netted his third in two games[LNB]20.08: That is better from Zilina too, Ceesay chips the ball in to the heart of the penalty area, where Bebatounde Bello rises like a salmon to head downwards to goal.[LNB]Cech is even to it but signs Zilina are getting closer.[LNB]20.06: Braga with a bit more play since they went a goal down, then again they needed some of the ball. They looked like rabbits caught in the headlights during the opening 10 minutes.[LNB]20.03: More Zilina pressure, a great run from Mario Pecalka leads to a pass for Momodou Ceesay on the left, but as he looks up and takes a touch he wraps his shot wide of the post from outside the box, a waste and a let off for Chelsea.[LNB]20.01: Zilina have not given up and a free-kick from 30 yards out splits the Chelsea wall, a cardinal sin, before Peter Cech nearly spills the shot in his own goal.[LNB]20.00 Moments after Arsenal took the lead Wilshere had another chance to score but his effort from the edge of the 6 yard box was straight at Felipe who parried the ball away.[LNB]19.57: GOAL! Zilina 0-1 Chelsea[LNB]The boy's on a goal rush, Michael Essien latches on to a Nicolas Anelka pass in the box to slam a home a first time effort past the keeper. Clinical.[LNB] Paying the penalty: Felipe brings down Chamakh leading to Fabregas' converted penalty[LNB]19.55: GOAL! Arsenal1-0 Braga[LNB]Floodgates open? Keeper Felipe is booked for bringing down Marouane Chamakh in the box, and Cesc Fabregas takes the pleasure in putting the Gunners in the lead from the penalty spot.[LNB]19.54: PENALTY (Arsenal)[LNB]19.53: Never will Jack Wilshere be so glad to see an offside flag. Fabregas splits the defence with a low pass and as the youngster runs in the box with just the keeper to beat sends it wide of the post.[LNB]19.51: No such start from Chelsea who have had to survive a bit of pressure from the home side, no cause for concern yet though.[LNB]19.48: Arsenal as expected are already putting pressure on Braga, and probably should have a penalty.[LNB]Paulo Cesar clumsily lunges on Cesc Fabregas as they challenge for the ball in the box, but the referee waves away the Spaniard's claims.[LNB]19.46: Both games underway...[LNB]19.45: Despite this being Europe's elite, Zilina's stadium is quite small and in truth the match has all the feel of Chelsea visiting a League One side in the Carling Cup.[LNB]19.43: Ah that Champions League music...it just never gets old.[LNB]19.41: Many Zilina fans have been furious over this fixture.[LNB]Where they normally expect to pay around five to 10 euros to attend a fixture, prices have been hiked up to as much as 50 euros in parts of the stadium.[LNB]Can't blame them for accusing the club of cashing in on that one.[LNB]19.39: For what it's worth my predictions...[LNB]Arsenal 3-0 BragaZilina 0-2 Chelsea[LNB]Easy stuff for the Londoners.[LNB]19.36: Roman Abramovich may of turned Chelsea in to one of the worlds biggest clubs, but he still wants Chelsea to rule Europe, as Martin Samuel explains here.[LNB]19.28: Of course both Arsenal and Chelsea have raced out the blocks in the Premier League so form should not be a problem this evening.[LNB]Even so a London side has never won the Champions League in any of its guises, could this year finally be their year? They have three chances with the addition of Tottenham after all.[LNB]19.26: So who will win the Champions League this season? Click here to find out what our team of experts at the Mail think.[LNB] Been there before: Frank Lampard in action against Zilina in 2003, however he misses out this evening[LNB]19.21: Worth noting, that Chelsea return to 'where it all started'.[LNB]Back in 2003 Chelsea visited Zilina for a Champions League qualifier, the first match since Roman Abramovich's takeover.[LNB]Only John Terry remains from that side that won 5-0 on aggregate, of course many trophies have gone to Stamford Bridge since, but the elusive Champions League prize is not one of them.[LNB]19.19: No surprises from Arsenal, but Chelsea have gave starts to fringe players Yuri Zhirkov, Daniel Sturridge and Yossi Benyaoun.[LNB]19.17: As promised...[LNB]MSK Zilina v ChelseaMSK Zilina: Dubravka, Guldan, Piacek, Pecalka, Mraz, Jez, Babatounde, Rilke, Ceesay, Vladavic, Oravec. Subs: Krnac, Angelovic, Leitner, Majtan, Poliacek, Sourek, Vittor.Chelsea: Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Zhirkov, Essien, Mikel, Benayoun, Sturridge, Anelka, Malouda. Subs: Turnbull, Ramires, Ferreira, Kalou, Van Aanholt, Kakuta, McEachran.Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland)Arsenal v BragaArsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Nasri, Song, Fabregas, Wilshere, Arshavin, Chamakh. Subs: Fabianski, Rosicky, Vela, Denilson, Djourou, Eboue, Gibbs.Braga: Felipe, Miguel Garcia, Moises, Rodriguez, Silvio, Vandinho, Aguiar, Hugo Viana, Alan, Matheus, Paulo Cesar. Subs: Artur Moraes, Paulao, Mossoro, Helder Barbosa, Lima, Madrid, Elton.Referee: Alain Hamer (Luxembourg)[LNB]19.15: After last night's contrasting stalemate's, England's other two Champions League representatives are under a bit more pressure to win this evening given the supposed class of the opposition.[LNB]While Spurs and Manchester United had the established clubs of Werder Bremen and Rangers respectively. Braga and Zilina provide the opposition for Arsenal and Chelsea.[LNB]With both clubs making their first group stage appearance, anything less than a win for the London clubs will provide a setback.[LNB]Team news on the way folks...[LNB] No slip up! Chelsea are clear favourites to beat Zilina[LNB] Cech confident this is Chelsea's year to win the Champions LeagueMARTIN SAMUEL: Abramovich's real goal is to make Chelsea Masters of EuropeTerry fit to lead Chelsea in Slovakia but Lampard will miss Zilina showdownWenger: English must rule Europe again on the long road to WembleyArsene Wenger targets mental battle as key to Arsenal winning Champions League[LNB]
