English results provide worry for Porto

FC Porto visit Arsenal FC on Matchday 2 hoping to end an unhappy sequence of results on English soil.

• The Portuguese champions have lost away to Premier League opposition in each of the last four UEFA Champions League campaigns, going down to Liverpool FC last season and before that Arsenal (2006/07) and Chelsea FC (2006/07 and 2004/05).

• Whether they can secure a first win in England at the eleventh attempt remains to be seen but the early Group G leaders will at least arrive in London with their confidence lifted by a 3-1 home success against Fenerbahçe SK on Matchday 1.

• Porto had not started a UEFA Champions League campaign with three points since 1999 yet they put that record right through goals from Lisandro (10 minutes), Lucho (13) and Lino (90+2), with Daniel Güiza (29) finding the net for Fenerbahçe.

• On the same night Arsenal had to fight back to claim a point from their visit to FC Dynamo Kyiv, William Gallas scoring two minutes from the end to cancel out Ismaël Bangoura's 64th-minute penalty.

• If that was an unconvincing start by Arsène Wenger's men, they can point to an impressive unbeaten home record in the UEFA Champions League which stretches back 22 matches (qualifying ties included) to April 2004.

• That record includes eight wins and four draws at the Arsenal Stadium where they have not tasted defeat in the UEFA Champions League since their first match there against Porto on 26 September 2006.

• That meeting, at the identical stage of the 2006/07 season, brought a 2-0 victory for Arsenal courtesy of goals from Thierry Henry (38) and Aleksandr Hleb (48).

• The full lineups that evening were:
Arsenal: Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Eboué, Kolo Touré, Justin Hoyte, William Gallas (Alexandre Song), Aleksandr Hleb (Theo Walcott), Gilberto, Cesc Fàbregas, Tomáš Rosický, Thierry Henry, Robin van Persie (Fredrik Ljungberg).
Porto: Helton, José Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Marek Čech, Lucho, Paulo Assunção, Ricardo Costa (Raul Meireles), Anderson (Adriano), Ricardo Quaresma, Hélder Postiga (Lisandro).

• The sides later drew 0-0 at the Estádio do Dragão, a result that sent both through to the last 16, Arsenal as section winners and Porto as runners-up.

• The full lineups for that second encounter on 6 December 2006 were:
Porto: Helton, José Bosingwa, Pepe, Bruno Alves, Fucile, Lucho, Paulo Assunção, Raul Meireles (Ibson), Lisandro, Ricardo Quaresma, Hélder Postiga (Bruno Moraes).
Arsenal: Jens Lehmann, Emmanuel Eboué, Kolo Touré, Johan Djourou, Gaël Clichy, Aleksandr Hleb, Gilberto, Mathieu Flamini, Fredrik Ljungberg, Cesc Fàbregas, Emmanuel Adebayor (Robin van Persie).

• Prior to those meetings, Arsenal had faced Portuguese opposition only once before in UEFA club competition, when they exited the European Champion Clubs' Cup in 1991/92 at the hands of SL Benfica. After a 1-1 draw in Lisbon, the Gunners suffered a 3-1 extra-time loss in the second leg of that second-round tie.

• Porto have a poor record in England, having lost on nine of their previous ten visits, including a 4-1 reverse at Liverpool in last season's group stage.

• The only time they avoided defeat was when drawing 1-1 at Manchester United FC in the 2003/04 first knockout round, Costinha's last-minute goal sending that season's eventual tournament winners through 3-2 on aggregate.

• Arsenal's Samir Nasri was in the Olympique de Marseille side defeated 2-1 at Porto in the group stage of the 2007/08 tournament.

• Arsenal defender Gallas was in the Chelsea team that beat Porto 3-1 in London in the 2004/05 group stage, but went down 2-1 in Portugal.

• Fenerbahçe take on Dynamo Kyiv in Istanbul in the other Group G fixture on Matchday 2.