The 100 per cent Champions League starts made by Chelsea and Arsenal will both be seriously tested during difficult looking matchday three fixtures on Tuesday.
Chelsea must travel to Moscow to take on Spartak while Arsenal are at home to crack Ukrainian outfit Shakhtar Donetsk.
After comfortable victories over Zilina (4-1) and Marseille (2-0), Chelsea are sitting pretty at the top of Group F.
Victory in Moscow for the sportsbook group favourites would all but assure them of a place in the last 16 with three games remaining such has been their dominance.
But Russia is no easy place for visiting teams and Chelsea may be haunted by some bad memories when they return to the Luzhniki Stadium.
It was here in May 2008 that captain John Terry’s slip and spot-kick miss cost them victory in an encapsulating Champions League Final which Premier League rivals Manchester United won on penalties.
Chelsea’s only previous experience of Russian opposition was narrow home and away victories over CSKA Moscow in the group stages during the 2004/05 campaign.
Meanwhile, Spartak have won nine out of 15 past meetings with English sides – with the vast majority of that success coming on home soil.
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In Group H, Arsenal have no lengthy trip to the east of continent to contend with but they will come up against one of Europe’s emerging powerhouses in Shakhtar.
The Gunners have swept SC Braga (6-0) and Partizan (3-1) aside with ease to take a stranglehold on the group, but home and away fixtures with the Ukrainian champions promise to be much more difficult.
Both have taken the maximum six points so far and these two games will determine who finishes top of the group ahead of the knockout stages.
Arsenal will welcome a familiar face back to the Emirates Stadium in Croatia striker Eduardo after his summer move to Shakhtar.
However, history suggests he may be on the losing side as the Gunners won the only previous meetings of these two clubs.
Back in 2000-01 during the first group stage, Shakhtar raced into a 2-0 lead at Highbury only to see Sylvain Wiltord and two rare goals from Martin Keown complete a remarkable turnaround.
The visitors have improved since those days as a 2008-09 Europa League round of 32 victory over Tottenham, which included a 1-1 draw in London, certainly highlights.
Last season they lost in the same competition to a spirited Fulham, who swept their way to the final on the back of some exceptional performances.
This promises to be a hard-fought encounter and a stern test of Arsenal’s Champions League mettle.
