Arsenal start Champions League campaign at Celtic

Arsenal begin their Champions League campaign tonight in the play-off round with Arsene Wenger's young Gunners on a high after thrashing Everton 6-1 on the opening day of the season. They travel to Glasgow to take on Celtic, and even the most optimistic forecast for the Scottish side would be for them to somehow resist the clinical excellence of the Londoners and secure a draw.

The only cloud on the horizon for Wenger is the long-fitness of his right winger Theo Walcott, who broke down in training yesterday and whose injury was described by the Arsenal manager as "not positive at all". Otherwise the Gunners could field Cesc Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin, Robin van Persie and Eduardo in their line-up.

Tony Mowbray, the Celtic manager who gave such a good account of himself in the Premier League last season with a classy, pass-making West Brom side, is under new illusions about the scale of his task tonight, rousing his players by telling them of the challenge they face. "If the boys who have never played in England have got anything about them then they should be wanting to test themselves," he said, while noting that Arsenal are peerless when on song.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYINGOliver Kay, the Times: "When Wenger arrives at Celtic Park this evening, with his Arsenal team facing the first leg of a Champions League play-off, he will see in the foyer a huge photograph of the Lisbon Lions, the band of brothers who won the European Cup in 1967. Below it is a quote from the immortal Stein, which reads, simply: 'We did it playing football - pure, beautiful, inspirational football.' Wenger will identify with the aspiration, if not yet the achievement. There are obvious differences between the Lisbon Lions and Arsenal’s youngsters but Wenger’s philosophy mirrors Stein’s. He wants to do it by playing football - pure, beautiful, inspirational football."

Kevin McCarra, the Guardian: "Coming last in the Premier League is not ordinarily a wise career move, but Tony Mowbray was invited to leave West Brom and take charge of a club he had played for in the early 1990s. There is a strong bond between the fans and the former centre-half. Mowbray's commitment to bright football also charmed them, but he knows very well that applause for idealism alone soon fades. He has to win."

Martin Samuel, Daily Mail:  "To rationalise his obsession, Wenger must believe. He must believe that the financial resources of a football club are not a predictor of its success; he must believe in youth over experience; he must believe in art over efficiency. For a man of reason, Wenger has to stay loyal to some highly paradoxical philosophies. But then Wenger is something of a paradox himself: a multi-faceted personality with the one-note singularity of an obsessive." ·