- Wednesday, 5.45pm
There is no doubting Mikel Arteta is aware of the expectation surrounding Arsenal. Performances of late suggest his players are too. The reality of still being alive in all four competitions this far into the season is taking effect, not just in terms of physical exhaustion but emotional toil as well.
This group are desperate to deliver and that has meant certain games have become tense, ragged affairs, where the football matters much less than the outcome. Take Saturday's 2-1 win over League One side Mansfield as case in point.
Arteta presumably cares little about the criticism his side are attracting given the state of play, only focused on how to turn a campaign with such vast potential into one that ends in silverware. The irony of being branded a team that play 'boring football' and yet the only side in the Champions League knockout stage with a perfect record still intact will not be lost on him.
The Gunners won all eight games in the league phase - the first to do so under the new format. Unlike many Premier League encounters, Arsenal's flair players have found themselves with the time and space to get creative, opening the scoring in every game so far and hitting three or more goals in the last six.
If Bayer Leverkusen have done their homework they will try to make the pitch as tight and compact as possible to stop Arsenal doing to them what they have done to each opponent so far. That will not be easy for a Leverkusen side who conceded more goals than they scored in the league phase, and finished 16th. This is Arsenal's chance to prove some doubters wrong.
Laura Hunter
- Wednesday, 8pm
Manchester City and Real Madrid has fast become the modern-day Champions League rivalry thanks in large part to being drawn against each other in the knockout stages every season for the last five seasons.
We have seen them play in a knockout-play-off, a quarter-final and two semi-finals since the 2019/20 season. Now they meet again in the last 16 and City have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about their chances against the 15-time Champions League winners.
This is hardly a vintage Real Madrid side and they are missing key players. Kylian Mbappe and Jude Bellingham are reportedly not expected to recover in time for the first leg, while Rodrygo has been ruled out for the rest of the season with an ACL injury.
City can also take confidence from the fact they have already beaten Real Madrid at the Bernabeu this season. It was a magnificent performance from Pep Guardiola's side, recovering to win 2-1 thanks to goals from Nico O'Reilly and Erling Haaland.
This was just the latest example of Real Madrid struggling to keep up with the intensity against a Premier League side. They have lost four in a row against English teams in the Champions League and there is a growing case to suggest they are lagging behind.
Arsenal demonstrated exactly this point in last season's quarter-finals by dismantling the holders with a 5-1 aggregate win. You can never count Real Madrid out in this competition, but this tie presents City with the chance to make a statement.
Zinny Boswell
- Wednesday, 8pm
If Liam Rosenior has learnt anything from predecessor Enzo Maresca, he may have noted the difference a win over PSG can make for a Chelsea boss.
This might not be the Club World Cup final but the opportunity remains for Rosenior to turn this Champions League last-16 tie into a statement victory, to go some way towards shaking off the somewhat unkind tag of 'LinkedIn Liam' thrown at him from some quarters and prove he has the seriousness needed to succeed at Stamford Bridge.
That is something which took Maresca long enough despite leading the club back to the Champions League and winning the Conference League and Club World Cup in his only full season in charge. Rosenior has faced an arguably tougher hill to climb given the optics of his internal appointment from Chelsea's sister club Strasbourg.
Some of Rosenior's public comments, team selections and tinkering have not done a great deal to quell those questions over his suitability for a fan base with fond memories of Mourinho, Conte and Ancelotti and some famous European nights in west London. But the scalp of the same Champions League holders who beat English sides in every knockout round last season would help elevate his credibility in the eyes of those Chelsea fans.
Rosenior knows Luis Enrique's PSG as well as any manager left in the competition given he managed in Ligue 1 for 18 months up to joining Chelsea, and his Strasbourg side remain one of only two sides to come away from the Parc des Princes unbeaten in the league thanks to a 3-3 draw in October. Strasbourg had even led 3-1 at one point and would have gone top of the table that night had they held on to victory.
There have been encouraging signs for the Blues boss who hit on the right formula in the 4-1 win at Aston Villa last week - but then needed extra-time to scrape past Wrexham in the FA Cup after making nine changes in north Wales.
If there are no more line-up surprises, like the starting 11 at Napoli in their final league phase game, there is no reason Rosenior cannot leave Paris satisfied for the second time this season.
Ron Walker
