If you were a neutral soccer fan, there was nowhere better to be than London this week.

The capital might well battle with all the problems inherent in big cities: it’s expensive, there are too many people, too many cars — but for the football fan there are few places to match it.

If you had the time, the money, the inclination and the stamina, you could have watched Champions League matches and a UEFA Cup game at Chelsea, Arsenal and Spurs on three successive nights.

You would have seen a total of 12 goals.

You’d have witnessed an outstanding display by Arsenal in their 3-0 demolition of Sevilla in their Champions League opener at the Emirates and a revitalised Spurs team demolish Anorthosis Famagusta of Cyprus 6-1 at White Hart Lane.

You wouldn’t have seen a great match at Chelsea, who drew 1-1 with Rosenborg Trondheim in their Champions League opener, but at least you would have been witness to the final drama that brought the curtain down on Jose Mourinho’s time at the club.

If you didn’t fancy going to see Chelsea on Tuesday — and clearly with 17,000 empty seats at the Bridge not too many did — you had a choice of watching Charlton Athletic, Crystal Palace or Queens Park Rangers in the Championship.

The numbers speak for themselves. Although Chelsea had a disappointingly low crowd of just 25,000 at Stamford Bridge, almost 75,000 spectators watched the four matches in the capital on Tuesday.

On Wednesday there was a near-capacity crowd of 60,000 at the Emirates while on Thursday, Spurs had a near-capacity crowd of almost 36,000 for their game at the Lane.

Last week England’s two Euro 2008 qualifiers at Wembley attracted two 90,000 sell-out crowds.

Organised soccer, of course, began in London in October 1863 when the Football Association was formed in a pub in Lincoln’s Inn Fields near Covent Garden.

With a total of 14 League clubs including five in the Premier League, the city remains one of Europe’s most vibrant soccer cities.

Ironical then, perhaps, that no London team has ever won the European Cup or Champions League.

Judging by the events of this week, Arsenal have a far more realistic chance of doing that than Chelsea. What an even more amazing irony it would be if they won this season’s final in Moscow, the old home of Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich whose billions have not yet brought him the Chelsea success he craves the most.

Mike Collett, Reuters Soccer Correspondent, London