Arsenal will guarantee a first two finish in group B if they dish out the same treatment to Sparta Prague at Highbury as they served up a fortnight ago.

That game in the Czech capital featured two mesmerising goals from Thierry Henry who was returning after a six-week injury lay-off, and Arsene Wenger is looking for an encore from the Gunners' record goalscorer.

Victory for Bayern Munich against Juventus in Turin could assure them top spot in group A, while Barcelona must beat Panathinaikos at home and Werder Bremen see off Udinese for the Spanish champions to book their ticket from group C.

Group D however is too close to call with any of the four teams still in with a shot of making it into the next phase. A mere three points cover the quartet.

Tabletoppers Manchester United take on Lille at the Stade de France in Paris desperate to draw a line under a disastrous 4-1 Premiership defeat to Middlesbrough at the weekend.

Wayne Rooney, who missed Lille's goalless draw at Old Trafford a fortnight ago, is back from suspension but any thoughts of a shake-up in defence may be wide of the mark given United's injury crisis.

Rio Ferdinand could even end up as captain as Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville are all injured, while Paul Scholes is suspended.

Ferguson believes the way his side fell apart against Middlesbrough will boost their French hosts.

"All we have done is given encouragement to Lille. They will be really buoyed when they see this result. We will get a reaction, that is without question. It is my job to see that happens.

"But we also have to try to stay positive and make sure we don't make the same defensive mistakes again because if we do, we will be out.

"We have to do better than we did at Middlesbrough because on that form, we couldn't beat anyone."

Keeper Edwin Van der Sar manfully held up his hands to accept the bulk of the blame for one of the worst losses in the English giant's history.

"We are not in the greatest spirit at the moment but we have to analyse what went wrong and somehow start to focus on Wednesday's game against Lille," said the Dutch stopper.

Second-placed Benfica host Villareal in an all-Spanish clash in the other group D fixture.

How Ferguson must envy Arsenal, whose European record this season stands at three wins from as many matches, albeit only an injury time goal from Dennis Bergkamp secured a 2-1 win against Swiss minnows FC Thun.

Although another injury prevented Henry from taking part in the north London derby against Tottenham on Saturday, the French hitman is expected to be back in action on Wednesday.

"At the moment we have one foot in the Champions League because we did well away from home," Wenger said.

"That's a contrast with the Premier League. I feel we performed well in the two away games, the disappointing match we had was at home against Thun.

"Overall I feel we have done what is expected of us in a group like that and we want to finish the job now."

Ajax, lying second five points adrift, are away to Thun.

The stakes are high in Turin were Juventus are looking to bite back against Bayern after their 2-1 defeat in Munich two weeks ago left the Italian titleholders lying second.

But like United they hardly had the best of build-ups, Saturday's 3-1 loss to AC Milan bringing to an end their 100 percent Serie A record.

Juventus striker Alessandro Del Piero, due to start against Bayern having been dropped to the bench for the Milan clash, insisted the defeat at the San Siro would only make his team stronger.

"The only thing to do is accept the defeat, have a look at where we went wrong and refocus on our targets. We have to get over it as quickly as possible.

"The page must be turned and we have to work harder to improve. We need to as facing Bayern is always a tough challenge," said the 30-year-old Italian international.

In group C Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard is expected to stick with the same starting line-up against Panathinaikos as the one that beat Real Sociedad 5-0 on Sunday which pushed them into second in the Spanish league.

Sylvinho will keep his place at left back ahead of Dutch international Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Andres Iniesta is also expected to retain his place in the midfield, keeping teenage Argentine international Lionel Messi on the bench.

FIXTURES
Wednesday's
Group A
FC Bruges v Rapid Vienna
Juventus v Bayern Munich
Group B
Arsenal v Sparta Prague
FC Thun v Ajax
Group C
Barcelona v Panathinaikos
Werder Bremen v Udinese
Group D
Benfica v Villareal
Lille v Manchester United