This week marked the second week of the new league phase format in the Champions League, with four Premier League sides in action. Arsenal hosted Paris Saint Germain and Manchester City traveled to Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday night, whilst Liverpool and Aston Villa hosted Bologna and Bayern Munich respectively on Wednesday night.
How did Premier League sides fare in the Champions League?
Arsenal got their first win of the campaign, beating PSG in convincing fashion, allowing them only 0.28xG. Mikel Arteta's sides goals came courtesy of goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. This win leaves Arsenal in 13th place in the league phase, currently occupying a play-off spot.
Manchester City made light work of their trip to Slovakia, with a routine 4-0 win for Pep Guardiola's side. Ilkay Gundogan, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and James McAtee were on the scoresheet for City. This win leaves them in 8th place, occupying the final automatic qualifcation place for the knockout stages.
On Wednesday night, Arne Slot made history by becoming the first Liverpool manager to win eight of his first nine games in charge. The Reds won 2-0 thanks to goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Mohamed Salah. The Egyptian king also provided a superb assist for Mac Allister's goals in a fantastic individual display. The win leaves Liverpool in 5th place.
Aston Villa got a famous win, repeating the same scoreline of the 1982 final, as they beat Bayern Munich 1-0. Pau Torres thought he had given them the lead in the first half, but was judged to be offside. Nevertheless, the man who has so often been the hero off the bench did it once again, as Jhon Duran swept the ball past Manuel Neuer who was miles away from his line. Emi Martinez made some incredible saves to help the Villans over the line.
This win for Villa leaves them in 6th place, leaving Liverpool as the only English side ahead in their first Champions League campaign in 41 years.