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The official pizza's hot, the toilets are clean, the playing legends are ready: it's the first Champions League group game at a stadium built for European competition – or possibly a trip to outer space. By Barney Ronay

 You know how it is when you go round to someone’s new house. It’s all very nice, of course; but somehow it’s never quite right. Those floral curtains. That full-circle panorama of 150 glass executive boxes dwarfed by two matching 100ft plasma screens. Well, we certainly wouldn’t have done it like that. Maybe you really have to be a fan to get excited about the Emirates Stadium. Either way, Arsenal’s first Champions League game here is a hugely significant occasion for everyone concerned with the erection of this cavernous upturned-spaceship of a stadium. This is, after all, what it’s here for. This a club remodelling – and re­mortgaging – itself along pan-European lines, with a 60,000-capacity stadium designed not with Reading and Sheffield United in mind, but Real Madrid and Bayern Munich; or even just the club’s first ever meeting with Porto, on a mild Tuesday night.

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Dear WSC
The revival of Lok Leipzig as detailed in your Germany supplement (WSC 231) is not quite the heart-warming story it might appear to be. FC United have been asked to play Lok in a friendly soon, but they are having reservations about doing so. The main problem centres on the fact that Lok’s support contains a significant fascist element. This is sadly not a new development in the region – extreme right politics have long been seen as a form of rebellion by disaffected youth in the former East Germany. However, there is little sign that the club themselves recognise this as a problem. The fact that Lok’s owner, now a successful businessman, was once the leader of the club’s hooligan fringe (albeit not a neo-Nazi) does not encourage hopes that steps will be taken to discourage the boneheads. As I understand it, the consensus in Manchester is that FC United will play in Leipzig but only if they are able to use the occasion to draw attention to grassroots anti-fascist campaigns in the former DDR. Whether this will be acceptable to the Lok leadership remains to be seen.
Tony Barraclough, via email

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After years of coughing up whatever it cost to watch Preston, Gavin Willacy has had enough. Or rather, too much, as ticket prices spiral beyond common sense

Last August Bank Holiday was a pivotal day for me as a football fan. For the first time, I decided against going to watch my team, Preston, solely because of the ticket price. We were away at Ipswich – a relatively local game for me, living in Hertford – and I was away on holiday when we won down the road at Watford on opening day. So surely I would go to Portman Road? Not with tickets at £25 a pop (plus an extra two quid on the day!), especially as it was live on Sky. Instead I watched it in a pub and celebrated our astonishing 4-0 win with friends at a barbecue.

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Saturday 1 Leicester are relegated after a 2-2 draw at Charlton after which Micky Adams forecasts the “rape and pillage” of his squad by other clubs. Wolves are all but down, too, despite a 2-1 home win over Everton. Man City go six points above the relegation area by beating Newcastle 1-0. Walsall stay third bottom of the First after losing 1-0 at Palace. Only Gillingham, beaten 5-2 at home by Coventry, can finish below them. In the Second, Rushden drop into the bottom four for the first time after losing 2-0 at Colchester. Hull clinch promotion from the Third with a 2-1 win at Yeovil. Carlisle join York in being relegated to the Conference after conceding a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Cheltenham.

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Phil Kyte looks at the big issues affecting Rotherham

Has Ronnie Moore’s standing in the eyes of Rotherham fans been seriously affected by the saga of his non-move to Ipswich?
Not really. His eagerness to jump ship left a nasty taste, but most are realistic enough to know it’s more a case of when rather than if he leaves. But like a turbulent love affair, the love you share means you can forgive just about anything. Apart from joining Wednesday. We just hope that when he does go it’s to a big club. (And that rules out Wednesday.)

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