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LONDON - The top end of the Premier League continues to go from strength to strength as all four English teams topped their Champions League groups this week.
Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United, the new "big four" of the English game, continued the resurgence that has provided
finalists in the last two seasons after years in the doldrums.
English clubs won seven of the eight European Cup finals before the 1985 Heysel Stadium tragedy but the subsequent five-year ban from European competition and its fall-out ensured that it would be another 14 years before an English team reached the final, when Manchester United beat Bayern Munich in 1999.
It was a further six for another appearance, Liverpool's amazing comeback win on penalties against AC Milan in 2005, with Arsenal reaching last season's final, losing to Barcelona.
Now, for the first time, one country has produced four group winners.
"It's fantastic for British football," said United manager Alex Ferguson after his team beat Benfica 3-1 to top Group F ahead of Celtic.
"I think one of the British teams can win and I just hope it is us."
Patriot pride
"The Brits are coming" trumpeted the Daily Mirror on Thursday, but any patriotic pride must be tempered by the fact that the best of the Premier League is built on very international foundations.
The success of English clubs in the 1970s and 80s came through teams made up of predominantly English players, with a leavening of Irish, Scots and Welsh.
The current crop, however, would only just about muster a team of Englishmen among them.
In this week's games Arsenal started without a single English player while Chelsea featured two. Liverpool, already assured of qualification, were able to field a few of reserves in their five, plus Welshman Craig Bellamy.
Manchester United also started with five, plus a Welshman in Ryan Giggs, who now holds the Champions League record of scoring in 12 separate campaigns after netting at Old Trafford.
The four clubs are managed by a Frenchman (Arsene Wenger at Arsenal), a Spaniard (Rafael Benitez at Liverpool), a Portuguese (Jose Mourinho at Chelsea) and a Scot (Ferguson).
The influence of overseas players and managers has obviously been huge in helping teams from the high-paced Premier League adapt to the more patient game that tends to dominate in Europe.
English qualities
Chelsea, helped by the seemingly unlimited funding of owner Roman Abramovich, have developed what looks the perfect blend. Players such as John Terry, Ashley Cole and Frank Lampard provide the traditional English qualities of commitment and aggression while Arjen Robben, Ricardo Carvalho and Michael Ballack add a touch of European nous.
Whether it will be enough to push the competition favourites all the way this year after two semi-final exits and defeat by Barcelona in the last 16 last season remains to be seen.
The draw for the first knockout round takes place on December 15 and the four English hopefuls are guaranteed to be kept apart under the competition's regulations.
The winners and runners-up from the same group cannot play each other either while all group winners are kept apart and have the advantage of playing the second leg at home.
Such is the quality of the clubs progressing, however, that it is a moot point whether top spot is any advantage. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Inter Milan and PSV Eindhoven lurk among the runners-up, while the key role of away goals in what are generally low-scoring matches has convinced many coaches that the advantage now lies with playing at home first.
- REUTERS
