This week, the top four Barclays Premier League teams of the 2014 to 2015 season saw their first group stage action in the Champions League, and for everyone except the defending BPL champions, things did not go particularly well. 

Chelsea FC was the only team that escaped with a positive result as Arsenal FC, Manchester City and Manchester United all fell in their first group games. 

Manchester United and Manchester City both lost on Tuesday to Dutch champions PSV Eindhoven and Italian champions Juventus, respectively. 

Arsenal lost on the road the next day to Dinamo Zagreb of Croatia while Chelsea defended Stamford Bridge with a win against Maccabi Tel Aviv. 

United could not build on a slick goal from former PSV player Memphis Depay as Eindhoven initially drew level through Hector Moreno and took the lead for good on a header from Luciano Narsingh.

Unfortunately, the main story of the match was the loss of Luke Shaw after a tackle by Moreno about 15 minutes into the first half. The leg injury was quite gruesome, and Shaw was taken directly to the hospital in Eindhoven for surgery and treatment. 

Fortunately, he has been released, but he will not be available for selection for a significant amount of time this season. 

In the first de facto “Group of Death” matchup, last year’s finalists Juventus came to the Etihad in Manchester and after a hard-fought but goalless first half, an errant corner found its way off of Juventus defender Giorgio Chiellini into his own net. 

City could not maintain the lead as Juventus stormed back in front on goals from Mario Mandzukic and Alvaro Morata. 

Manchester City is at the top of the BPL table at the moment but has failed to win their home opener in each of their last five Champions League campaigns. 

In their Group F matchup, Arsenal fell by a score of 2-1 in Croatia to Dinamo Zagreb after an Olivier Giroud red card had them down to 10 men with Dinamo already leading 1-0. 

The first goal came off of a Josip Pivaric shot that deflected off of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Fernandes doubled the lead after the red card before Theo Walcott gave Arsenal some hope in the 79th minute of the contest. 

Arsenal could not equalize, however, granting Dinamo Zagreb their first Champions League group stage win in nearly 16 years. 

Defending BPL champions Chelsea were the only British side to win their first group stage game, arguably against the weakest opponent that any of the BPL sides had seen. 

The Blues took down Maccabi Tel-Aviv at Stamford Bridge by a score of 4-0.

 Chelsea is in the worst form since 1986 to start this Premier League campaign, but the win brought the confidence needed to take down Arsenal at home later in that same week.  Despite a penalty missed by last year’s PFA player of the year Eden Hazard, Chelsea found goals from Willian, Oscar, Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas. 

Hazard is on a slower pace compared to his outstanding season from a year ago, as he only has recorded one goal and one assist.

Costa’s goal was his first Champions League goal for the Blues, and Willian aggravated a hamstring injury in the game that left him unavailable to play for at least a few weeks.  

Arsenal, Man City, Man U and Chelsea continue with games against Olympiakos, Borussia Münchengladbach, Wolfsburg and Porto, respectively. 

                                       —Dan Rozel