21.08. (Wed) 23:00 Atletico Madrid - Barcelona

Barcelona will look to continue their blistering form when they take on Atletico Madrid in Wednesday's first leg of the Supercopa de Espana.

Gerardo Martino's reign at Camp Nou got under way in stunning fashion on Sunday as Barca thrashed Levante 7-0.

Lionel Messi showed no sign of the hamstring injury that had hampered his pre-season, scoring twice, and will hope to add to his career tally of 20 goals against Atleti, having netted more against them than any other club.

Cesc Fabregas also returned from an ankle injury to star against Levante, although Martino is still without experienced defender Carles Puyol (knee), while young attacker Cristian Tello (hamstring) remains a doubt.

Atletico started their season with an impressive 3-1 win away to Sevilla as Diego Costa netted a double.

The Brazilian rejected advances from Liverpool to sign a new deal at the Vicente Calderon in the close-season and will hope to replace the goals previously scored by Radamel Falcao for Atleti, after the Colombian's move to Monaco.

All eyes, however, will be on David Villa, who will be taking on

Despite a strong start to the season, however, Atletico manager Diego Simeone was not so enthused.

The former Argentina midfielder believes Barca and Real Madrid are too strong for any Liga sides to catch, which makes the Spanish top flight a "boring" competition.

When asked if his side could compete domestically this term, Simeone firmly said: "No, absolutely no. Madrid and Barcelona play in a different league.

"This is a boring championship for the rest of the supporters who can only aspire to be third or fourth.

"We'll have to wait for a different distribution of television money because now the league is only of two."

21.08. (Wed) 20:45 Fenerbahce - Arsenal

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger goes into Wednesday's Champions League clash with Fenerbahce under unprecedented pressure.

The Frenchman has won three Premier League titles and four FA Cups with the London club since his arrival in 1996, but has seen his standing diminish over the course of eight trophyless years.

Recent failures in the transfer market, which have seen several high-profile targets missed and only 20-year-old forward Yaya Sanogo arrive, have also served to compound fans' frustrations.

The situation came to a head on Saturday as Arsenal suffered an embarrassing 3-1 opening-day defeat to an Aston Villa side who spent much of last season battling against relegation from the English top flight.

And so there is little doubt that Wenger needs a win when his team make the daunting trip to Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in the first leg of their play-off encounter against Fenerbahce.

Unlike their next opponents, the Turkish side have been busy in the market of late, bringing in the likes of Emmanuel Emenike, Michal Kadlec and Bruno Alves during the close-season period.

However, that did not prevent them from allowing a two-goal lead to slip in the final 13 minutes of their first 2013-14 league fixture against Konyaspor as they slumped to a 3-2 defeat.

Manager Ersun Yanal will at least be buoyed by the fact that the visitors face a number of injury worries as well as morale issues following their humbling by Villa.

Thomas Vermaelen (back), Mikel Arteta (hamstring), Nacho Monreal (back) and long-term absentee Abou Diaby (knee) all missed that fixture, while Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee), Bacary Sagna (neck) and Kieran Gibbs (head) picked up their injuries during the match.

By contrast, Fenerbahce could welcome back Gonul Gokhan following his recovery from surgery, though they will still be without Erten Ersu (knee).

The Super Lig outfit do know, however, that they could yet be thrown out of the Champions League even if they win their tie against Arsenal, as they await a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport regarding accusations from Uefa of match-fixing.

The teams last met in the group stages of this competition in the 2008-09 season, and shared a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium after Arsenal had ran out 5-2 winners in Turkey.

21.08. (Wed) 20:45 Chelsea - Aston Villa

Aston Villa travel to Chelsea on Wednesday full of confidence, and desperate to atone for last season's 8-0 thrashing at Stamford Bridge.

Paul Lambert's side go into the game having secured the shock of the Premier League's opening day, winning 3-1 away to Arsenal, but face the team who inflicted their heaviest defeat of last season.

Chelsea will also be in confident mood ahead of their second game at home in four days. They brushed aside new boys Hull City on Sunday in Jose Mourinho's Premier League return and will be hoping to do the same with Villa.
The fixture was originally scheduled for August 31, but was moved due to Chelsea's involvement in the Uefa Super Cup a day earlier.

Villa have taken a win and a draw from two of their last four visits to Stamford Bridge, however the two defeats have been heavy - 8-0 and 7-1 - and they have not recorded a cleansheet at the ground since 1998.

The pair's head-to-head league record is exactly even with each having recorded 50 wins and Villa captain Ron Vlaar believes his side can spring a surprise and make up for last season's embarrassment.

"If you can win at the Emirates, of course it is a great start. We want to do it again on Wednesday now," Vlaar said. "We all know what happened last year, so we want to put that to rest.

"We learnt a lot and we still have to learn a lot, but mentally we became a stronger team.

"But it is the start of the season and nobody really knows a lot about each other."

Mourinho only lost once to Villa during his first spell in charge, in the penultimate Premier League game of his first tenure, and his return to England got off to the perfect start with the victory over Steve Bruce's side.

The Portuguese coach has an almost fully fit squad to choose from, with David Luiz a doubt having also missed Sunday's triumph and Nathaniel Chalobah having picked up a knock while representing England Under-21s a week ago.

Nathan Baker is the only new injury concern for Paul Lambert, the central defender limped out of the Arsenal victory with an ankle injury that leaves him a doubt for Wednesday.

Yacouba Sylla, Chris Herd and Charles N'Zogbia all missed the opening day and are unlikely to feature at Stamford Bridge.