Premier League in Europe

St. James Park will host its first Champions League match in 20 years when Newcastle welcomes French champion PSG on Wednesday. The French visitors are no longer as star studded a group with Messi and Neymar gone from the side, but Kylian Mbappe remains in France for at least this season under former Barcelona Manager Luis Enrique. A lot will be riding on the success of Enrique’s maiden season as Mbappe’s contract is completed this year and he’s so far refused offers of a contract extension. Real Madrid continues to be rumored as Mbappe’s next port of call. A successful Champions League run wouldn’t hurt in helping convince Mbappe to extend his stay in France. The Magpies, meanwhile, have bounced back in a big way from an earlier rough patch this season. Newcastle has won three consecutive Premier League matches, knocked Manchester City out of the Carabao Cup, and took way a point in a draw at AC Milan in their opening Champions League match. Arsenal faces another French side when the Gunners travel to face last season’s Ligue 1 runner up Lens on Tuesday. Arsenal mauled PSV Eindhoven 4-0 in their opening match. Manchester United will try to rebound from its poor Premier League form and an opening Champions League loss to Bayern Munich when the Red Devils host Galatasaray on Tuesday. Manchester City, meanwhile, travels to Germany for a Wednesday match at RB Leipzig. Manchester City rolled 7-0 over the Germans in their last meeting in the Champions League in March. Thursday’s Europa League clashes include SC Freiburg visiting West Ham, Brighton traveling to Marseilles and Liverpool hosting Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise. Aston Villa tries to pick up the pieces from its opening loss in Europa Conference League group play when the club hosts Zrinjski from Bosnia and Herzegovina on Thursday.