TheSpecialists

Specialist Andy Gray offers his views on some of this week's most intriguing Champions League games, including Chelsea's return to the stadium where they suffered arguably their most painful ever defeat and Tottenham's tip to Milan to face reigning champions Inter...

Tuesday's matches

It's not often you can get 1.75 or bigger about Arsenal at home in the Champions League. And it's not like they're up against perennial Champions League quarter-finalists either. Shakhtar Donetsk have started remarkably well, that much is true, but those wins were against Sporting Braga and Partizan Belgrade; two matches in which they made use of the experience that saw them win the UEFA Cup back in 2009 against two pretty inexperienced sides at this level.

Arsenal are a different kettle of fish though and that aberration against West Brom aside, they've gone about their business without too much fuss this season despite injury blows to key players such as Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas. History shows that the Gunners tend to win these sort of matches at home, although I'd be amazed if it was by the sort of margin that they beat Braga by in week one. The home win is a solid bet, though I'm also interested in the 2-0 correct score.

It's a bit of a cliché to say that it's never easy travelling to Russia at this time of year, but that doesn't stop it being true. Cold conditions, difficult pitches and partisan crowds make it difficult for any club but I still feel Chelsea should have enough about them to come back from their trip to Spartak Moscow with three points.

They're nothing if not difficult to break down these days and you can't see players like Michael Essien hiding in their shells just because conditions are tough and the crowd is getting hostile. It won't be easy but in my mind there's enough about them to make the trip a successful one.

Andy's tips:
Back Arsenal to win at 1.75
Back Arsenal to win 2-0 at 10.0
Back Chelsea to win at 2.24