Real, Arsenal and Valencia eye third successive wins

Holders Real Madrid, fellow Spanish side Valencia and in-form Arsenal bid for third successive wins in the Champions League on Wednesday that would put them on the brink of qualifying for the second phase.

The trio have scored 20 goals between them so far, without reply, and all three face opponents they should be confident of beating.

Even without Ronaldo, who is still not fit, nine-times European champions Real have been in awesome form, hitting nine goals in their two games.

Real crushed Genk 6-0 last week and they travel to Greece to face an AEK Athens side reeling from the imprisonment on Tuesday of their club president for forgery.

AEK have drawn both their games 0-0 and lie second in group C, but they will have their work cut out containing Real strikers Guti and Raul.

AS Roma have made a poor start but a weekend win over Brescia, when Francesco Totti grabbed hat-trick, has boosted morale.

Totti returns to Champions League action following suspension and the Italians will travel to Genk confident of adding to their solitary point.

Valencia head group B, and the visit of Swiss side Basel to the Mestalla should not present too many problems for the 2001 finalists.

English side Liverpool, unimpressive so far, will be hoping for a Basel defeat and a victory over Spartak Moscow at Anfield, which would put them level with the Swiss side on four points.

Michael Owen's weekend hat-trick ended his barren run this season just in time for what is a must-win game for Gerard Houllier's side.

STERN TEST

In contrast, group A leaders Arsenal have looked unbeatable both domestically and in Europe, as was amply demonstrated by their 4-0 demolition of PSV Eindhoven in the Netherlands last week.

French side AJ Auxerre, top of the French first division, are experienced European campaigners, however, and they will provide a stern test for the English champions, who are without injured Dutch striker Dennis Bergkamp.

A fierce clash is also in store in Eindhoven where PSV look to bounce back against Germany's Borussia Dortmund, who are second in the group with three points.

The Dutch side, with one point so far, desperately need a win but they have not scored in almost 400 minutes of Champions League action. They are without injured defender Kevin Hofland.

Group D is one of the tightest, with a point separating leaders Inter Milan, who have four points, and chasing duo Ajax Amsterdam and Olympique Lyon.

Lyon visit Milan on Wednesday knowing a victory would throw the group wide open but history is against them, with Inter unbeaten in this competition at home since 1963.

Ajax travel to Norway to face Rosenborg Trondheim, who held Inter 2-2 in their opening game.