Arsenal got a what can only be considered a favourable draw for the Champions League group stages today, while Leicester also got what looks to be a winnable group also.
The Gunners will take on Paris Saint-Germain, as well as Basel and Ludogrets, in what could be a tricky draw for the group stages.
The French champions have been getting stronger and stronger over the decade, and will be tough to beat, but we will be favourites to bag all three points at the Emirates Stadium.
Basel will not be easy to beat on our travels either, nor will a long flight to Bulgaria be wanted favoured, but it could definitely have been tougher.
The trip to Switzerland could be made easier for us, with Mohamed Elneny having signed from the club in January, as he may be able to help to analyse some of their strengths, while Granit Xhaka also played for the club until 2012, and may also be happy to return to his country of birth.
The Bulgarian’s are not a side we know too strongly about, but they beat Victoria Plzen to qualify for the group stages, and you rarely get an easy match in the elite European competition.
Tottenham will be counting their chickens after they were put into a relatively easy group, without having been drawn into a group. Their name was picked out and they were automatically assigned into the only group left on the other half of the draw to us, and got what has to be considered the weakest side in pot one, CSKA Moscow. They will also take on Bayer Leverkusen and Monaco.
Leicester City will play against Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen, which you would have consider them odds on to make the knock-out stages.
Full draw:
Group A: Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal, Basel, Ludogrets
Group B: Benfica, Napoli, Dynamo Kiev, Besiktas
Group C: Barcelona, Man City, Monchengladbach, Celtic
Group D: Bayern Munich, Atletico Madrid, PSV, Rostov
Group E: CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham, Monaco
Group F: Real Madrid, Dortmund, Sporting, Legia Warsaw
Group G: Leicester City, Porto, Club Brugge, Copenhagen
Group H: Juventus, Seville, Lyon, Dinamo Zagreb
It will be a repeat of all the previous years, we will get through to the knockout stages and that will be the end of the road.
We can top our group.. We can also finish the usual second behind PSG. We can progress to the quarter final but we can also bottle things up and get knocked out in the usual round of 16.
It could have been worse but could have been better
Its still going to be really tough mainly due to our poor summer transfers
RMA, Barca , Bayern favorites
PSG, ATM, juve dark horses
Arsenal – mere underdogs
How badly we have fallen
I don’t agree with you, calling Tottenham’s fixtures as lucky.
CSKA Moscow, Bayer Leverkusen, Tottenham, Monaco.
That’s one group you can’t pick out the 2 teams who qualify.
For Arsenal’s group however, you can say PSG and Arsenal (I hope not in that order though).
I agree,
The spuds will be lucky to finish 3rd in that group, which is alot harder than ours! ?
David Ornstein
@bbcsport_david
Arsenal close to agreeing deal to sign Valencia centre-back Shkodran Mustafi. #AFC will pay fee in excess of £35m for Germany international
David Ornstein
@bbcsport_david
Arsenal have beaten Everton to signing of Deportivo La Coruna striker Lucas Perez. Deal agreed, #AFC meeting €20m release clause, 17.1m #EFC
On Twitter, Lucas will undergo his medical tomorrow. A lot of pundits on twitter said so.. I decided to munch David Ornstein information as I trust him more than others.
Lucas and Mustafi. Not the best if we get them but I know they can improve the team. Just hope they play well if we sign them.
Few days before the window shuts down…So many rumour in the mill right now. Let’s see how it goes. ..
I disagree about Mustafi (if we get him). He is one of the best CB prospects available, and I gladly welcome any german international that wants to play for Arsenal. I would call his signing a complete success.
I don’t know a thing about Lucas Perez, but if he can at least keep Alexis on the wing where he is significantly more effective, that is another success.
I’m predicting that Arsenal, Man City and Leicester will all finish second in their groups and the Spuds will finish third In theres lol ? The spuds will be all confused by playing European football on Tuesdays and Wednesday nights!
hence the phrase … Spursday night football