How did Premier League clubs fare in the UEFA Champions League?

This week marked the first ever games played in the new Champions League "group phase", where instead of playing three teams twice, once at home and once away, sides play eight teams once - four teams at home and four teams away. Let's see how the Premier League representatives did.

How did Premier League clubs fare in the UEFA Champions League?

1. Aston Villa win comfortably

Aston Villa played their first game in the competition (or an iteration of this competition) in 42 years, as their game away to Swiss side Young Boys got the ball rolling for this seasons campaign along with Juventus vs PSV.

It was a 17:45 BST kick off away to a Swiss side on a plastic pitch. Perhaps not how they dreamt of their return to the competition going, but a huge occasion all the same. It was to be a perfect return for Unai Emery's side, coming away with a 3-0 win, despite two goals being disallowed, including an incredible curling effort from Jhon Duran. Youri Tielemans, Jacob Ramsey and Amadou Onana scored the goals for Villa.

2. Liverpool win comfortably

Later on Tuesday, Liverpool faced AC Milan at the San Siro, in a rematch of the 2005 and 2007 finals. It was the nightmare start for Arne Slot's side, as Christian Pulisic drilled across goal to continue his good start to the season. That was as good as it got for the hosts though, as goals from both central defenders - Virgil Van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate, assisted by both full-backs - Konstantinos Tsimikas and Trent Alexander-Arnold, had Liverpool ahead at half-time.

In the second half, superb work from Cody Gakpo down the left lead to him teeing up Dominik Szoboszlai to make it three goals and three points for Liverpool, who saw ought a 3-1 win.

3. Man City involved in goalless draw

On Wednesday night, Manchester City hosted Inter Milan, in another repeat of a Champions League final - 2023. It was not a great game, although there have certainly been worse 0-0's. Inter Milan's composure when playing out from the back was incredibly impressive. Ilkay Gundogan had two chances to win it late on for City.

4. Arsenal involved in goalless draw

Finally, on Thursday night, it was another 0-0 as Arsenal shared the spoils with Atalanta in Bergamo. David Raya saved a penalty from Mateo Retegui in the second half, before incredibly saving the strikers header from the rebound. It was a largely tipid performance from Arsenal, who looked seriously flat and unable to create from open play without their skipper Martin Odegaard.