There’s been some confusion about what exactly could happen tonight in our Champions League group. We know all three teams can finish on 12 points, but what happens then?
What if Arsenal draw? What if Napoli win? What if Marseille beat Dortmund. Well, via the UEFA website, here’s how the group could play out.
• Arsenal will clinch qualification, and top spot, with a draw or a victory.
• If Dortmund fail to win, Napoli will advance with a victory – in the event of a three-way head-to-head on 12 points, the two qualifiers will be decided by the precise scorelines between the three teams.
• A draw is only enough for Napoli if Dortmund, who have a superior head-to-head, lose. If Napoli lose they are out.
• Dortmund are through if they win. Should Dortmund draw, they will progress if Napoli do not win. Dortmund can only afford to lose if Napoli are also beaten.
• Marseille will be fourth.
So there you go. Clear as anything.
Now let’s go win it.
What happens if all four teams lose tonight?
The solar system will get sucked into a black hole
it needs a team to win for the other to lose
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=whoosh
We don’t understand m’lady. Perhaps if you’d care to use shorter words.
If all four teams lose then TGSTEL gets a lifelong contract extension, a new car and a payrise to rival Mezut’s.
bit of a dead joke bro
I’d like this displayed as a quadratic equation please blogs.
I’m still confused…
As far as I can tell, its a 3 ways mini table between the top 3, Dortmund are pretty much guranteed to go through, I don’t think marseille care about their match. So its about our match and goal difference, so Napoli score 3 more than us move us to 3rd place. It would be simple if we score early and just pass it about, but on the very real chance they score, its gona be a long night…
Score 2 then with 5 mins to go, pass it around the back four until the referee rage quits!
We smashed Naples at home, they have win with an greater difference today if they want to make it to the next round. So we could lose say 1-0 and still end as number two in the group (if Dortmund win ofcourse) but then we might draw something Bayern, Real or Barca in the next round. So let’s win this one or at least draw it. COYG!
Obviously my spelling is a bit off it seems… “they have TO win” and “might draw something LIKE Bayern”*
Oh I get it now !!! So basically what your saying is van perise is a cunt ?
I keep telling people to let it go & move on with their lives. But he really is. And a massive one.
hahahahahahahaha
It’s about time people stopped calling van Perfidy a cunt. Cunts are wonderful.
Except for the bad ones who smell. Just like the skunk.
couldn’t have put it better myself
Group table mathematics always gave me headache. I hope the team will go with a focus for a win, not thinking of M.City. That’s the only way we can do it, tonight and Saturday. COYG!
So where does this 3-0 malarkey come from?
Urrrgggggggg – Shall we just bloody win tonight and then we don’t have to worry about moons being aligned and what the hell some other team does. This just hurts my head and I blame Platini.
Arsenal need to win not just so that we go through, just so I don’t have to go through this again.
Previously. My understanding was that we go thru as long as we dont lose by more than 3 goals. Now it feels like we will go thru as long as napoli does not beat us by a margin more than what dortmund beats marsille. Ie to say. If dortmund win by 5 to 1. Napoli must beat us by 4 goals.
Is this the case?
“in the event of a three-way head-to-head on 12 points, the two qualifiers will be decided by the precise scorelines between the three teams.” Napoli lost by two goals to both Arsenal and Dortmund, and won the other match against Dortmund by one goal. Once the goals are added up, and assuming Dortmund win: If we draw or win we are top If we lose by less than three goals we are second If we lose by three goal we are third If Dortmund fail to win, we are top unless we lose by two or more goals – it… Read more »
No, you were right originally. Dortmund’s scoreline tonight is irrelevant. The only importance of their match is getting their points to 12 if they win. If that happens and we lose and so all 3 teams are on 12 points then scorelines and results against Marseilles are irrelevant. You would recreate the table as if the Marseiiles games never took place and as each of the 3 would have gained 6 points in matches between them, and as there are 3 teams tied not just 2, it goes to goal difference. Ours going into tonight is +2 (on the matches… Read more »
yeah what morbius said faster than I could
If we play like we did against Napoli at the Emirates then all of this is meaningless. We were awesome that 1st half, the best I’ve seen in years. Oh … and RVP is a cunt.
You’re right both ways.
This is this
Yes, we know Marseille will be 4th.
No. Napoli just need to overturn the scoreline (deficit) they suffered from our hands @ the Emirates. That it is the simplest way to explain it. It is a direct battle btw Arsenal nd Napoli provided BVB win which is very likely (but a shocker is possible)
te most important thing to remember is:
win or draw and we will top the group
sounds crazy but i hope he starts bendtner and gives giroud a reest. same with bringing in rosicky for ramsey
wow this is nail biting stuff.
fuck off suarez i dont have any nails.
Whatever the results are, I’ll still be a cunt
dortmund are on +1 while we are on +2 presently. if dortmund win and we lost by a goal margin, we are back to +1. so it will be straight head to head between us and dortmund. but the game between us we both scored 2 goals for and conceded 2 but they scored 2 away goals. therefore for us to top the group of DEATH, we just need a draw today.
I think that the 1 goal loss is not quite as straightforward as you state to decide who tops the group in the event of an Arsenal loss and a Dortmund win (the 3 way tie) If we lose 0-1 or 1-2 Dortmund have scored the more goals in the 3-team mini league (dropping the Marseille results) so they top the group. If we lose 2-3, we have identical records in the 3 team mini-league (GF 6 GA 5) so it goes to head-head with Dortmund (who scored more away goals in the 2 ties against us) so they top… Read more »
As I understand the convoluted UEFA quaklification rules, if we’re all on 12 points, it’s settled on the three-way mini-table, and only if that can’t decide whether Arsenal or Dortmund top the groups will it go to a head-to-head between the two teams. So if Dortmund win and we lose by a 1-ggoal margin, we tie with Dortmund on goal difference (Napoli will be third), and it comes down to goals scored. Dortmund have scored 6 goals (3 home, 3 away) in the mini-league; Arsenal have so far scored 4 (3 home, 1 away). So if Arsenal lose 1-0 or… Read more »
Sorry NYGooner, just seen that you said pretty the same as I did.
NP Clock End Mike – I love the 3 way tie scenario because inevitably, commentators and pundits don’t really understand how it works and make crass mistakes. It was all academic anyway with the 2-0 loss – shame Marseille couldn’t do us a favour!
this is so confusing Wenger out.
Ha.
This is the Twin Peaks of group climaxes, I have no idea what’s going on.
Wenger is Bob… i think…
I’m just hoping for no injuries. While I want to win CL, the league is within sight and we need to be fit for our upcoming matches.
It actually comes downt to head to to head games if all three teams end up on 12 points. That’s why Napoli need to beat us by a 3-0 scorline, coz at the moment the aggregate score is 2-0 to us.Dortmund qualify as long as they get the 3 points at marseille coz they have better head to head agg scores against us and Napoli
Arsenal.com has a better explanation (because the UEFA site’s explanation is for all the teams). It’s what everyone calculated on theis site calculated after our win versus Dortmund.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/champions-league-group-f-permutations
Or, simply:
1) We top the group with a win or draw.
2) We qualify (as runners-up if Dortmund wins) if we avoid a three-goal defeat.
3) If Dortmund fails to beat Marseille we’re through–(a) as group winners if we win, draw, or lose by 1 or 2 goals, (b) as runners-up if Higuain runs wild and nets a hat trick.
I hope that’s clear enough that I shouldn’t have to add:
4) We’re out if Napoli beats us by 3+ goals and Dortmund wins.
So, even if Napoli is up, say, 1-0 in the second half, they should be pushing very hard for two more, which will theoretically leave them open at the back, increasing our chances to even it up and top the group.
Hmmm. I think everyone is taking the Marseille game too much for granted. Let’s say Marseille are holding them to a 0-0 draw or shock horror are winning. You are a Napoli player and you are thinking – right this is fight to the death kamikaze stuff or hold on a minute let’s pass it around time? So in the second half, say around ‘feo time’, 72 mins in, ‘feo’ doesn’t get his 20 minute appearance fee, but it’s still 0-0 for Marseille and Dortmund. Arsenal and Napoli are also 0-0. You’ve got to see Napoli aren’t going to open… Read more »
Yeah, but then a draw sees us top and even a 1-0 or 2-0 loss to Napoli puts us top if Dortmund doesn’t win. Nothing to worry about from our perspective.
And Napoli need to better Dortmund’s result, so a draw does them no good if Dortmund are drawing too.
Plus, you’ve overlooked the fact that Dortmund, despite being in an immense defensive crisis (none of their normal back four are healthy), will almost certainly handle manager-less Marseille.
When was the last time someone scored three against us in any competition?
Thanks in advance
Opening game of this season versus Aston Villa if I’m not mistaken.
Villa. On the first day of the season I think.
So Napoli need to beat us by three to knock us out because we beat them by two before, and Napoli have an inferior head to head to Dortmund so if they finish level on points then Dortmund place higher than Napoli. We were equal with Dortmund head to head so a Dortmund win and a Napoli win by three or more would put us on channel 5 on spursday nights. It’s going to be very hard for us to get knocked out (touch wood). Let’s hope we finish the job in style, Higuain gets disillusioned with having to play… Read more »
Half an hour in and it seems to all be going to plan. Even though I have no idea what the plan might be.