European role reversals

Ruud van Nistelrooy scored twice against Boavista

Champions League tables and statistics

BBC Sport Online's Howard Nurse looks at the reversal in fortunes for England's three Champions League contenders.

Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United can breathe more easily now the Champions League is on ice until February.

The English trio can turn their attentions to domestic matters during the 11-week-long Champions League winter break.

Encouragingly, all three clubs harbour realistic hopes of progressing to the lucrative quarter-finals stage.

Strangely though, their current placings in the respective Champions League group tables are a reversal of their recent Premiership fortunes.

Liverpool appear to have the most difficult task ahead of them after gaining just a single point from their first two second-phase games.

Gerard Houllier's men face two difficult games against Turkish outfit Galatasaray in addition to return games against Barcelona and Roma.

Liverpool drew 0-0 in Roma

Not an easy task for the current Premiership leaders.

But the Reds are hopeful that by the February resumption Houllier will have returned from his period of convalescence following open-heart surgery on 13 October.

Liverpool's fate is not likely to be decided until the final group match at home against Roma on 19 March.

In contrast, Manchester United, who have been painfully knocked about by the headline-hungry tabloids, look virtual certainties to make the last eight for the sixth season running.

They top Group A after picking up a deserved point against holders Bayern Munich and trouncing Boavista 3-0 on Wednesday.

Two games against Nantes should hold few fears for Sir Alex Ferguson while the home game against Bayern on 13 March could well decide who wins the group.

United were at their most convincing against Boavista. The Portuguese champions were out-played by a United side currently enjoying better form in Europe than at home.

Ferguson now wants to concentrate on putting things right in the Premiership after seeing his volatile side lose five times in the league.

Arsenal are in the most finely balanced of the four second-phase groups.

The Gunners have picked up three points from two games - an identical record to Juventus, Bayer Leverkusen and Deportivo La Coruna.

Freddie Ljungberg has been Arsenal's star man

Arsene Wenger's side ripped Juventus apart in their 3-1 victory at Highbury.

If they could reproduce that sort of form on their travels, reaching the quarter-finals would be a breeze.

Sadly, Arsenal's form on the road in Europe has been wretched - unlike their away record in the Premiership this season.

Perhaps the reversal in fortunes for the English trio can be easily explained.

Manchester United have the most experience of the three when it comes to Champions League matters, while Liverpool are novices.

Arsenal reached the quarter-finals last season and Wenger will be disappointed if his team fail to reach at least the same stage in the spring.

But it is the United players who have the most at stake.

They want to give Ferguson the perfect send-off by lifting the European Cup at Hampden Park in what will be the manager's final game in charge of the Old Trafford giants.

Favourites Real Madrid might have something to say about that though.