PARIS, March 31: Manchester United and their danger man Cristiano Ronaldo are oozing confidence ahead of this week’s Champions League quarter-final action which will have a strong English flavour with four Premier League clubs involved.

United, visiting AS Roma in the first leg on Tuesday, warmed up in ideal fashion by crushing Aston Villa 4-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday to charge five points clear of Chelsea in the Premier League.

Wayne Rooney was instrumental, scoring twice in the second half, but arguably not as much as Ronaldo, who highlighted his brilliant form by playing a part in all four of his side’s goals.

There was good news for United when Roma said on Sunday their captain Francesco Totti would miss the first leg at the Stadio Olimpico because of a thigh muscle injury.

Arsenal entertain Liverpool in an appetising all-English clash on Wednesday, with Chelsea visiting Fenerbahce the same day. The only Premier League-free contest is on Tuesday with Barcelona facing Schalke 04 in Germany.

Like United, Arsenal can look forward to their first leg with optimism after a gutsy fightback for a 3-2 win at Bolton on Saturday.

Six points behind United in the league with six games left, Arsenal, who knocked out Champions League holders AC Milan in the previous round, may consider Europe their best chance of success this season.

Being down to 10 men for an hour did not stop manager Arsene Wenger’s men from recovering from two goals down to end a six-year league jinx at Bolton.

Arsenal face a different proposition, however, in continental competition specialists Liverpool, losing Champions League finalists last year, who they will meet for the first time in European competition.

The five-time European champions’ hopes will rest heavily on prolific Spaniard Fernando Torres, who scored his 21st league goal of the season in a 1-0 defeat of Everton at Anfield on Sunday that tightened Liverpool’s grip on fourth place.

Chelsea, dreaming of a first triumph in the premier event, look too good on paper for surprise Turkish package Fenerbahce but they will need a better performance than in Sunday’s 1-0 victory over Middlesbrough.

That win was enough to keep the wealthy Londoners’s domestic title hopes alive but did little to suggest they could soon offer Russian owner Roman Abramovich the trophy he so dearly wishes.

Barca seem too clever for Schalke 04 but the Catalans worried their fans on Saturday by slumping to a shock 3-2 defeat at Real Betis to lose second place in the Primera Liga to Villarreal.

Coach Frank Rijkaard’s men lived up to their reputation for having plenty of firepower but also a porous defence.

Barca seemed to be cruising to an easy when Bojan Krkic and Samuel Eto’o put them 2-0 up inside 15 minutes but a revived Betis turned the tables with three superbly worked goals in 13 second-half minutes.

Rijkaard apologised to the Barca fans for an embarrassing performance and can only be hoping his jewel-studded team will shine more against a Gelsenkirchen outfit, who warmed up with a goalless draw at Karlsruhe on Saturday.

Deco, Rafael Marquez and Lionel Messi are all out injured for the Catalans while Ronaldinho is a doubtful starter with leg muscle pain.—Reuters