A defeat for United leaves Chelsea carrying the hopes of England in Europe

So there is only one game left for the English sides in the Champions League first leg ties and that belongs to Chelsea, who face a tough away trip to Galatasaray and a host of former faces for their manager and fans.

Whilst that result has not yet come to pass, three others have and three ties look like they will require a great deal of work for the English sides to get through.

Some have even suggested that for Arsenal and Manchester City, leaving their stars at home to rest for the fight on a domestic front is the better option. Quite what the best option for United is remains to be seen but a huge amount of fans would probably use the words ‘sack’ and ‘the manager’ in an otherwise expletive filled sentence.

No goals and not much hope has been the story so far for the English sides in Europe’s premier competition – and neither Tottenham Hotspur or Swansea managed to score either in the Thursday night version  – although the Welsh side deserve massive credit for their draw with Serie A giants Napoli.

Manchester City can cry all they want about the referee – but it is hardly breaking news. Sweedish referees have been sending off players against Barcelona since 2004 – Anders Frisk anyone?

As for penalties that are outside the box or should never have been, Chelsea and Didier Drogba can help Manuel Pellegrini understand that a little bit better. There is even a rather funny rap on YouTube involving Drogba and the words ‘It’s a f***ing disgrace’ that can help clear up any further doubts for the Chilean manager.

City were simply not good enough at the back, and although Barcelona are the worst that they have been in many years, playing what can only be described as a slug as part of your back four does not exactly bode well for a clean sheet.

Arsenal meanwhile had to deal with their own red card – again deserved – and were comprehensively outplayed by Bayern Munich. In fact, in the second leg, Wenger would be more productive getting Mesut Ozil’s face on milk bottles under a ‘missing’ caption than actually standing on the touchline.

At least Manchester City and Arsenal were playing arguably the two best sides in Europe. With ten men.

Manchester United  meanwhile had their own issues, namely in the form of their manager and the majority of their squad. They had eleven men against the so called easy draw of Olympiakos (well done for that tweet after the draw Rio) and were outplayed for the majority of the game.

They were shocking. The back four were dire, the midfield worse than usual (which is saying something) and we saw one half of the front two looking like he would rather be anywhere else than United and the other looking like he might well be regretting tying his future to the club. Even at £300,000 per week.

Star signing Juan Mata meanwhile can probably be found frantically raiding David Moyes’ house trying to find the receipt from his winter move.

So, there is only one side left to play and they face one of the biggest Premier League legends to overcome if they want to progress – and we should hope they do – all four English sides crashing out does not do the future of the four places the Premier League get in the Champions League much good at all .

Can Chelsea save the English hopes? Let us know your thoughts below or tweet us @LaFootyettes.