ONE day and counting to one of the most eagerly-awaited 'home' showdowns on the European front.

Tomorrow night Arsenal and Chelsea meet at Stamford Bridge in the first leg of their European Champions League quarter-final with both sides teetering on the brink of history.

Let alone their first premier European semi-final, runaway Premiership leaders Arsenal are pursuing a treble that was last completed by arch-rivals Manchester United, whom the Gunners meet next Saturday in the FA Cup semi-final.

Mega-spenders Chelsea, lying second to Arsene Wenger's wizards in the top-flight, are striving to end the hoodoo hold the Gunners have over them. Besides being twice toppled in the League this term, Chelsea were also bundled out of the FA Cup by the Highbury aristocrats.

Still other sub-plots spark off tomorrow's duel like a welder's arc. Lying in wait in the semi-finals for the victor of the cross-capital collision are no less than the galacticos of Real Madrid - Zidane, Ronaldo, Figo, Beckham et al - while dignified Chelsea boss Claudio Ranieri continues to operate with the sword of Damocles, or rather Roman Abramovich, dipping ever closer to his silver-tinged Italian head.

And the encounter between the two London sides signals too a potential significant shift in the balance of domestic power towards the south as Manchester United's dynastic reign creaks, while a posse of other northern clubs remain mired in under-achievement.

All the pundits are tipping heavily in favour of Arsenal, whose attacking vim dazzles with supernova brilliance.

Led by Thierry Henry - destined to retain his footballer of the year title - the Gunners' front-line oozes with a match-less majesty. Each game of their Premiership parade - they are one game away from a new record of undefeated matches from the start of an elite season - has been characterised by an imperious assault on rival rearguards.

Defenders, who customarily cope with whatever is thrown at them, positively quake as a red-clad tide of Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires, or new kid, Antonio Reyes, surges forward.

Such energised elegance has led some observers to label Arsenal one of the greatest teams assembled in England. Sorry, no. A team is not great until it wins silverware season after season and across all fronts.

As yet Arsenal's record in conquering Europe at its highest level is about as good as York City's. They have never done so, unlike Manchester United, unlike Liverpool, unlike Nottingham Forest, unlike Aston Villa, and if extending the list of achievement north of the border, unlike the team who kick-started it all, the Lisbon Lions of Glasgow Celtic.

If Chelsea, then Real Madrid, then whoever in the final, is swept aside like most of their Premiership rivals, Arsenal will indeed attain greatness. Swagger and arrogance is all very well but until that huge European Cup is hoisted aloft it is merely bluster and bravado.

DO French managers suffer more than most from myopia?

Arsenal's Arsene Wenger is notorious for 'not seeing' red-card offences by his own and now compatriot and Liverpool counterpart Gerard Houllier has displayed almost as alarming a case of short-sightedness.

As a Liverpool fan, I'm not one for demanding the head of Monsieur Houllier. He has done a superb job and should be given at least another season in charge. But I was dismayed by his reaction to referee Rob Styles not giving Liverpool a penalty when Emile Heskey crashed to the turf against Wolves.

Houllier lamented, somewhat churlishly: "Referees get you the sack in this game, not players." So it's referees then, who turn in listless performances that show no pride in the shirt they are wearing; it's referees who miss penalties and open goals; and it surely must be those pesky referees again who fail to justify the millions of pounds in fees and wages invested in them.

BEFORE signing off this week, apologies for two glaring errors in last week's column.

It was, of course, Wigan, not Leeds, who beat York Rugby League Club in the Challenge Cup in 1984, while England decimated West Indies for 47 runs and not 44. Must have been the shock of such intoxicating success from the Caribbean.

Updated: 09:55 Tuesday, March 23, 2004