Celtic take aim at Gunners

Semi-finalists last year, Arsenal FC will need to be wary of their hosts' good record against English sides as they commence their cross-border encounter with Celtic FC for a place in the UEFA Champions League group stage.

• These teams have never played but Celtic have enjoyed the better of their meetings with English teams on home soil, where their record reads four wins, three draws and one defeat.

• Their most recent encounters with Premier League opposition came in UEFA Champions League Group E last term, when eventual finalists Manchester United FC followed a 3-0 home win with a 1-1 stalemate at Celtic Park.

• Two seasons previously, the same two teams were drawn together in Group F, United kicking off their bid with a 3-2 home win before Celtic clinched a 1-0 victory in Glasgow.

• The Bhoys overcame two English sides in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup, seeing off Blackburn Rovers FC in the second round and Liverpool FC in the quarter-finals. The Reds fared better in the 1997/98 edition, however, triumphing on away goals in the first round. They also defeated Celtic in the 1965/66 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup semi-finals.

• The only visiting team to have returned south of the border with a victory were Nottingham Forest FC, 2-1 winners at Celtic Park in the 1983/84 UEFA Cup third round.

• Arsenal have never faced Scottish opposition, but Gunners manager Arsène Wenger recorded a pair of league wins against Celtic counterpart Tony Mowbray last season, while the latter was in charge of West Bromwich Albion FC.

Match background

• Runners-up in the Scottish Premier League last term, Celtic owe their place in the play-off round to Georgios Samaras's last-gasp strike at FC Dinamo Moskva, Scott McDonald having struck at the end of the first half as Celtic recorded a 2-0 win following their 1-0 home reverse in the opener.

• The hosts have made six appearances in the group stage, having progressed via the qualifying rounds on three occasions. Most recently, they saw off FC Spartak Moskva in 2007/08 to book their ticket, two years after succumbing to FC Artmedia Petržalka – the last of their three losses in qualifying.

• Arsenal enter the fray at this stage courtesy of their fourth-place finish in the Premier League last season.

• The Gunners have contested eleven consecutive group stages, earning an automatic spot each time until 2006/07, when they defeated NK Dinamo Zagreb in qualifying. They then progressed past AC Sparta Praha in 2007/08 and FC Twente last term.

Team ties

• Gunners captain Cesc Fàbregas and Bhoys midfielder Marc Crosas briefly spent time together in the FC Barcelona youth ranks, until Fàbregas left for Arsenal in 2003.

• Arsenal's Łukasz Fabiański and Celtic's Artur Boruc are rivals for goalkeeping duties with the Polish national team, both having featured in Poland's UEFA EURO 2008™ squad.

• An Arsenal legend as a player and current head of youth development at the club, Liam Brady managed Celtic from 1991 to 1993.

• Arsenal striker Jay Simpson spent the second half of last season under Tony Mowbray's wing on loan at West Brom.