Arsenal’s best and worst-case Champions League draw scenarios as group stage pots confirmed

There’s plenty to look forward to from an Arsenal perspective in the next two weeks, but perhaps nothing more so than the Champions League group stage draw which takes place from 5pm UK time on Thursday, August 31 at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

Back at Europe’s top table for the first time since the 2016/17 season, Mikel Arteta’s primary target will surely be to ensure the Gunners qualify for the knockout round. However, it certainly won’t be easy for them given the teams they can potentially come up against in the group stage.

As a result of finishing second in the Premier League and thanks in part to a bit of luck with regard to the coefficient rankings, Arsenal are in Pot 2 for the Champions League draw. This means they can be paired with Sevilla, Barcelona, Napoli, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Benfica or Feyenoord from Pot 1.

Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, AC Milan, Lazio, Red Star Belgrade are the options from Pot 3 with Real Sociedad and Celtic potentially joining them after the play-off round whilst Pot 4, at the moment, contains Union Berlin and Lens as the two teams the Gunners can face.

So with all that in mind and as things currently stand, what would represent the best-case and worst-case outcome for Arsenal when the Champions League group stage draw is made?

Best case: Feyenoord, Arsenal, Rangers, Antwerp

There is always the argument that easy games in the Champions League group stage simply do not exist and whilst that might be true, Feyenoord and Benfica are perhaps the two teams Arsenal would prefer to be paired with from Pot 1 when looking at the rest of the field.

Particularly the former who are not only the lowest-ranked team in Pot 1 but have had a slow start to the defence of their Eredivisie title by drawing 0-0 at home to Fortuna Sittard in their first game of the new season before fighting back from 2-0 down to earn a point away to Sparta Rotterdam on Sunday.

From Pot 3, if Rangers overcome PSV Eindhoven in the play-off round once again, then they might be the pick for many Arsenal supporters especially as the Scottish giants don’t have a great record in the competition and finished bottom of their group last season with a goal difference of -20.

Finally, the winners of the Antwerp vs AEK Athens play-off tie could be ideal opposition for Arsenal from Pot 4 as would Bundesliga side Union Berlin who are making their debut in the Champions League this season or Norwegian outfit Molde if they manage to qualify.

Worst-case: Bayern Munich, Arsenal, AC Milan, Galatasaray
The last time Arsenal played a Champions League fixture they lost 5-1 at home to Bayern Munich. That was the second leg of a round of 16 tie which meant the aggregate score was 10-2 in favour of the reigning champions of Germany and therefore will probably be the team in Pot 1 to avoid.

Then there’s the Harry Kane factor. The England captain is Bayern’s new number nine after joining from Tottenham Hotspur in a deal worth in excess of £86million and his goalscoring record against Arsenal – 14 in 19 appearances across all competitions – makes him an immediate threat to any hopes Arteta has of reaching the round of 16 and avoiding a return to the Europa League.

With regard to Pot 3, teams will want to avoid drawing AC Milan. The Rossoneri reached the semi-final last season and despite losing Sandro Tonali to Newcastle United this summer, they’ve retained Rafael Leao, Mike Maignan and Olivier Giroud whilst also bolstering the squad by signing Christian Pulisic, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Yunus Musah – who Gunners fans will be very familiar with – and Samuel Chukwueze.

Pot 4 will become a lot clearer after the play-off round as Union Berlin and Lens are the only teams in there at the moment that Arsenal can face. With that said, if Galatasaray overcome Molde then perhaps they will be the ones to avoid as they would be a tricky opponent considering they can call upon the likes of Wilfried Zaha, Mauro Icardi, Hakim Ziyech, Dries Mertens and Lucas Torreira.