Arsenal's best and worst potential Champions League fixture lists revealed
Arsenal will hope to go one better than they did last season and win the Champions League this term, ending their long wait for European silverware.
The Gunners haven't won a continental trophy since they were victorious in the Cup Winners' Cup back in 1994. Mikel Arteta's men came heartbreakingly close in the 2025/26 season, losing to Paris Saint-Germain on penalties in the final in Budapest in May.
Their greatest objective this season will be to end this European suffering and win the Champions League. Last term, they benefited from a somewhat favourable League Phase schedule, which helped them finish top of the pile and then enjoy a relatively smooth route to the latter stages.
They'll hope fortune favours them again when the League Phase draw is made on Thursday evening in Monaco.
With that said, here are the best and worst possible league phase fixture schedules Arsenal could be given this season.
The Champions League format has obviously changed in the last few years, and the draw structure subsequently looks very different. Many won't be aware of how the new draw works, so here is a brief explanation.
Nine teams of 36 are split into four 'pots' based on their UEFA coefficient (a number calculating how good a team is based on their recent performances in European competition). All 36 teams will play against two teams from each of these four pots, one home and one away.
Teams can't play more than two sides from the same country throughout the League Phase, while they can't face any teams from their own country
This is how the eight-game fixture list is created. It's that simple.
The draw is done completely randomly, with former professional footballers standing on a stage and pressing a huge button for far too long to determine the fixtures.
While you could simply work this out by looking at the coefficients, they don't really reflect how good a team currently is, as they're actually a reflection of how well teams have performed in European competitions in recent times.
For example, Inter Milan currently have a greater coefficient than the likes of Arsenal, Manchester City and Barcelona, while Sporting CP are ranked more highly than Manchester United. Clearly, using this method wouldn't actually generate the easiest and most difficult schedules. Instead, a purely vibes-based approach must be adopted.
From the pool of exceptional pot 1 teams, Inter Milan and Atletico Madrid are clearly the two weakest. Having played both away from home in the last two seasons, there's not much to distinguish between going to the San Siro or the Wanda Metropolitano, although Inter are probably a slightly better side at the moment, making a home game against them preferable.
From pot 2, Club Brugge and PSV Eindhoven stand out as the weaker sides, with the Gunners comfortably dispatching both in recent seasons. Brugge isn't the most intimidating place to go, so facing them away again would be preferable.
In pot 3, a trip to Stamford Bridge to face Shakhtar Donetsk would probably end up feeling like a home game for Arsenal, so that would be ideal for Arteta's men. Feyenoord are probably the other weakest side in the pot, with Fenerbahce and Lyon still to play out a qualification second leg to complete the third group.
Finally, three spots in pot four still need to be decided. The following second legs are set to take place on Wednesday evening (first leg score in brackets):
It will depend on who progresses, but for the time being, the winners of that second tie, plus new entrants Sabah, an Azerbaijani side, are probably the weakest. That said, you'd much rather play them at home than travel to the Caucasus region in midweek.
Arsenal's best possible League Phase fixture list:
The above list of fixtures certainly looks very palatable, but it could easily look a lot worse for the Gunners.
Among the pot 1 options are Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid. Playing either of these wouldn't be ideal for Arteta's men, but it could still be significantly more challenging. Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain would be the worst draws, with a November midweek trip to the Allianz presenting a particularly daunting task.
In pot 2, a visit to the Westfalenstadion to face Borussia Dortmund and the Yellow Wall wouldn't be pretty. On top of that, a clash with an ever-improving Roma side wouldn't be ideal.
In pot 3, Napoli and Villarreal await. Travelling to the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in the peak winter months would be stressful for Gunners supporters. When looking at Shakhtar and Feyenoord as the easiest opponents in this pot, it highlights just how varied this section of the draw can be.
In pot 4, if Arsenal have drawn Napoli and Roma, they'll fortunately avoid Cesc Fabregas' Como. They'll also avoid Stuttgart if they've drawn Bayern and Dortmund. They could, however, travel to the imposing Stade Bollaert-Delelis to face Lens, where they lost a few years ago. Meanwhile, a clash with Slavia Prague is rarely straightforward.
Arsenal's worst possible League Phase fixture list:
The Gunners will likely end up with a mix of the two schedules. However, it is very easy to see how a slightly more or less favourable draw can have a significant impact on your season.
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