Champions League draw: Everything Arsenal fans need to know
Every year under Mikel Arteta, Arsenal have gone one better in the Champions League. A quarter-final exit at the hands of Bayern Munich was followed by a semi-final defeat against Paris Saint-Germain, before reaching last year's final, heartbreakingly beaten on penalties by PSG at the Puskás Aréna in Budapest. Well, Gooners will hope that this trend continues.
The Gunners' latest Champions League adventures starts in only a fortnight, so here is everything fans need to know ahead of the draw.
The Champions League league phase draw takes place on Thursday 27 August. Monaco will be the setting, namely the Grimaldi Forum. It is scheduled to start at 6pm local time, which is 5pm in the UK and noon ET in the United States. The draw itself often takes at least half an hour to truly start.
The draw will be live on BBC iPlayer, TNT Sports 1 and HBO Max in the United Kingdom as well as on CBS Sports in the United States.
Arsenal are now ranked seventh in the UEFA Club Coefficient Ranking. This means they find themselves in pot 1, albeit this does not benefit them in the draw, unlike in the old group stage format.
A total of 36 clubs enter the Champions League league phase. Of these, 29 are direct entrants, while seven sides made it through the play-off round both this week and last. These clubs are divided into four pots, as outlined.
As has become customary, Arsenal cannot face other fellow English teams, namely Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa nor Liverpool. There are though two other draw conditions.
The Gunners can face a maximum of two opponents from any country. So, if they land Barcelona and Madrid from pot 1, as an example, they would not be able to draw Real Betis or Villarreal later on.
Lastly, a new UEFA rule means that Gooners will not be heading to San Siro in the league phase. Arsenal have travelled to Milan to take on Inter in both of the last two seasons. Now, UEFA have decided that identical fixture cannot take place in three consecutive campaigns.
This means Arsenal's pot 1 away game will be against one of Barcelona, Real Madrid, Atlético Madrid, PSG or Bayern Munich; they could still host the Serie A champions.
Arsenal will play eight matches, four at home and four away. These will be against eight different opponents. In each pot, the Gunners will face two clubs, one in North London and one on the road.
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