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England's usual suspects in the will have greeted the draw for the group phase with a mixture of cunningly disguised delight and cautious optimism.

Champions Manchester United, runners-up Chelsea, plus Arsenal and Liverpool will all feel well capable of progressing to the knockout stage - and Scottish champions Celtic cannot be ignored because of their magnificent Parkhead record.

So what are the pitfalls they need to be aware of, and can Manchester United make history by retaining the Champions League?

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Wembley

English football suffered an uncomfortable night as a muddled display from Fabio Capello's side was played out against the backdrop of high-level political intrigue in Soho Square.

Capello's England had barely embarked on what was a before leaks sprung around Wembley that .

Confirmation swiftly came that Barwick was indeed on his way as part of what might be politely termed a "re-structure", this time instigated by Lord Triesman, the FA's first independent chairman.

This was a huge distraction to the action taking place on the field - but not big enough to disguise worrying evidence that the brave new era under Italian coach Capello is struggling in its infancy.

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England coach Fabio Capello may cut a figure of stone-faced Italian solidity - but is showing a knack for springing surprises and his choice of is another.

Gone are the days when teams and captains could be predicted with confidence, and as all the signs appeared to point to Rio Ferdinand gaining the armband on a permanent basis, Terry arrived stage left to keep his job.

I might as well say it for one last time before putting my soap box away. My choice would have been Liverpool's Steven Gerrard.

It would have been fascinating to see how this supreme footballer and heartbeat of Liverpool would have reacted to the responsibility, but Terry is Capello's pick after a series of public auditions.

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Luiz Felipe Scolari wants watching Chelsea to become just like watching Brazil - and there was a touch of South American swagger about the opening of the new Stamford Bridge era.

Chelsea have earned a reputation, starting under Jose Mourinho and continuing with Avram Grant, for being functional as opposed to flamboyant. Theirs was a success built on solidity.

Scolari's Chelsea retained all the old hard-nosed resilience as they thrashed Portsmouth, but there were when he appointed the one-time World Cup winner as coach.

The performance, however, must be placed in the context of the efforts of Harry Redknapp's side, who will make plenty of teams look like if they perform as timidly as they did at Stamford Bridge.

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Liverpool fans are indulging in a familiar August pastime - namely pondering all the permutations to work out whether they will finally win the title for the first time since 1990.

Earlier in the summer I made a written promise to Liverpool fans who accused me of forever running down their chances of winning the Premier League.

I said I would return to the subject on the eve of the new campaign, study the summer's events and assess whether this season would be any different from the last 18 years in title terms.

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London

Frank Lampard's contract wrangle has run a poor second behind Cristiano Ronaldo's flirtation with Real Madrid as the summer's longest - and on occasion most tedious - football saga.

It has ended, like the Ronaldo story, with and the foreign football force's advances publicly spurned.

Chelsea's very obvious pleasure in announcing that Lampard has signed a new five-year deal sprung from several sources.

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Wembley Stadium

Sir Alex Ferguson was in relaxed mood - as relaxed as a manager should be with the Premier League and the Champions League in his trophy cabinet and with the cosmetic glory of the added to Manchester United's collection.

He took all questions amiably in the bowels of Wembley, even the sort of inquisitive probing on specific transfer targets that can spark, shall we say, a prickly response.

But it was clear that there was one cloud on Ferguson's Old Trafford horizon. Not exactly a thunder cloud, but one he appears to have every intention of blowing away before next Sunday's first game against Newcastle United at Old Trafford.

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