Chelsea and Arsenal will both hope for positive results in the Champions League on Wednesday night but here we look out the other games in groups E and F that could have a big bearing on who eventually qualifies for the knock-out stage, with Bundesliga pair Bayer Leverkusen and Borussia Dortmund both eyeing victories.

Chelsea can extend their unbeaten record at home in the Champions League group stages to 25 games when they play host to KRC Genk on Wednesday while Arsenal will be looking to protect an impressive away record on French soil against Marseille.

Sunday’s Premier League action features a hotly-anticipated Black Country derby while two under-pressure managers go head-to-head when Arsenal host Sunderland.

The Premier League throws up two London derbies on Sunday afternoon – at Craven Cottage and White Hart Lane – while 11/2 title shots Chelsea travel to Bolton and new boys Swansea entertain Stoke City.

There are two Champions League matches involving English teams on Wednesday with Arsenal hosting Olympiakos and Chelsea travelling to Spain to take on Valencia. Both sides won in the Premier League at the weekend so can they repeat the dose in Europe?

The second batch of Carling Cup third round matches continue on Wednesday night with two all Premier League encounters and holders Birmingham at big-spending Manchester City, but the stand-out tie is Brighton playing host to Liverpool.

There are some tasty looking fixtures on Tuesday night as the Carling Cup becomes the focus once more, with two all Premier League clashes as well as an old rivalry renewed.

After a busy and somewhat disappointing week of European action, as far as the English sides were concerned, we turn our attentions back to the Premier League on Saturday with six intriguing matches. The day kicks off with Arsenal travelling to Blackburn at 12:45pm, before five 3pm matches take centre stage for what are likely to be close encounters.

Arsenal have a huge European test on their hands on Tuesday when they face Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park in their first Champions League group clash of the season (Dortmund 6/5, draw 23/10, Arsenal 12/5).

That time of the year has come again when football fans up and down the country will gather in front of the television to see whether their teams can pull off a last-minute transfer coup.