It’s D-day in Europe for two of England’s Champions League hopefuls.

While Liverpool and Chelsea had already made it through to the knock-out stages, irrespective of last night’s results, for Manchester United and Arsenal it’s all or nothing in tonight’s clashes.

Arsenal travel to Porto knowing a draw would be enough to see them through while United entertain Benfica at Old Trafford also looking for a point to ensure qualification.

In all honesty neither team should have that much trouble getting the results they need. But the reality is that it should not have come down to the last match for either club.

Both United and Arsenal should have made sure of qualification weeks ago but some strange results have meant their future participation in the competition has gone down to the wire.

When the dust settles after tonight’s final group matches I full expect all four English teams to still be in the reckoning. But, if you ask which ones I think might go all the way this season, United and Arsenal would come bottom of my list.

That’s not to say they haven’t played well at times, but somehow you just feel they both lack Chelsea’s strength in depth. And Liverpool’s astonishing ability to play like wimps at home but gods in Europe.

Club in crisis

Last week I warned that Arsenal were a club in crisis. And that was before I knew about the Henry vs Wenger training ground bust-up.

The 3-0 victory over Spurs on Saturday will have gone some way towards papering over the cracks at the Emirates Stadium, but the reality remains that Arsenal have some soul searching to do right now.

As Wenger says, they do have a very good young squad but, as Henry says, they do need to strengthen in certain areas. But with Wenger saying that won’t happen in January, the relationship between manager and star player could be about to break down entirely.

The situation has, of course, been made all the more tense by the fact that Henry is out with his recurring neck injury and could miss up to six weeks of football.

That’s a lot of time for a player to sit around thinking about things and is pretty much exactly what Wenger didn’t need right now.

There is every chance this whole incident and indeed the entire crisis of which I speak blowing over on the back of three or four more good wins and qualification for the next stage of the Champions League.

But I still have the nagging feeling that this one will not blow over.

Watch this space

Footballers reach a lot of milestones during their career. From debuts to playing 100 first team games to scoring for the first time to scoring 100 goals.

But few, if any, of the milestones they reach are as significant, or magnificent for that matter, as playing your 1,000th professional match.

So let’s spare a thought for Steve Claridge. The veteran striker has been around for what feels like decades playing for clubs in all divisions and scoring on a pretty regular basis.

He has even had stints as player-manager during his impressive career but, today, he finds himself in what can best be described as a pretty pickle – he is stuck on 999 games.

Claridge needs just one more to become a member of that extremely exclusive club but, and here is the sticking point, he is currently between jobs.

In a desperate attempt to make it to 1,000 he has issued a public appeal to any club willing to let him pull on a shirt for one last game. And he has offered to play for free.

Although I understand his sentiments in wanting to achieve the milestone, he might be better off not doing so. Nobody remembers all the names of the players who have reached 1,000 games.

But everyone will remember the name of the player who ended up stuck on 999.

England cricket team

Hats – and various other bits of head apparel – off to the English cricket team.

Just when you thought their defence of the Ashes couldn’t get any worse, they contrive to snatch a magnificent defeat from the jaws of stalemate.

With a day to go in the second test the match was heading for a draw. No doubt about it. Only one of the worst batting collapses in the history of the game could change that outcome and that wasn’t going to happen on a boring pitch like Adelaide.

But England just love pulling off the impossible and, somehow, managed to hand the game, and quite possibly the series, to Australia on a plate by putting in one of the worst batting displays ever seen in cricket.

In their second innings they were all out for 129 leaving Australia a rather pathetic total of 168 to win, the sort of total they could get using “sticks of rhubarb” instead of bats as Geoff Boycott opined.

And the Ozzies duly reached that target with room to spare meaning England have to win at least two of the three remaining tests to retain the Ashes.

On this performance only a mad man or one with more money than sense would bet on that happening…

Contact James on: [email protected]