At 12.00 today UEFA makes the draw for this seasons Europa League and Arsenal are the second highest-rated club in pot 1 behind Unai Emery’s previous club Sevilla.
Normally one would hope for an easy draw but to be honest, that really only applies to the Champions League, I mean, there are not exactly any elite teams in pot’s 2,3 and 4.
I actually think the harder the draw the better, for starters it means that Emery would have to take the competition seriously very early on and for me, that is a good thing.
Arsenal have players coming back from injuries and new signings still bedding in and competitive European football would be a good outing for those sort of players.
It also keeps the players on their toes, keeps them eager, keeps them hungry and again, that is also a good thing.
Emery has to put the Premier League first of course, that goes without saying but we cannot dismiss the Europa League out of hand, we really do have a great chance to win the competition.
You can watch the draw live on UEFA.com and BT Sport 2.
These are the four pots
Pot 1 (Uefa coefficient, team, nation)
104.000 Sevilla (ESP)
101.000 Arsenal (ENG)
93.000 Porto (POR)
81.000 Roma (ITA)
78.000 Manchester United (ENG)
65.000 Dynamo Kyiv (UKR)
62.000 Beşiktaş (TUR)
54.500 Basel (SUI)
50.000 Sporting CP (POR)
48.000 CSKA Moskva (RUS)
40.000 Wolfsburg (GER)
37.000 Lazio (ITA)
Pot 2
37.000 PSV Eindhoven (NED)
34.500 Krasnodar (RUS)
31.000 Celtic (SCO)
31.000 København (DEN)
31.000 Braga (POR)
29.500 Gent (BEL)
29.000 Borussia Mönchengladbach (GER)
27.500 Young Boys (SUI)
27.500 Astana (KAZ)
27.000 Ludogorets (BUL)
25.500 APOEL (CYP)
24.000 Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
Pot 3
23.000 St-Étienne (FRA)
22.000 Qarabağ (AZE)
22.000 Feyenoord (NED)
20.713 Getafe (ESP)
20.713 Espanyol (ESP)
20.000 Malmö (SWE)
18.000 Partizan (SRB)
17.500 Standard Liège (BEL)
17.092 Wolves (ENG)
11.699 Rennes (FRA)
11.500 Rosenborg (NOR)
10.500 İstanbul Başakşehir (TUR)
Pot 4
10.500 AZ Alkmaar (NED)
9.646 Vitória SC (POR)
8.000 Trabzonspor (TUR)
7.780 Olexandriya (UKR)
6.250 Dudelange (LUX)
6.250 LASK (AUT)
6.250 Wolfsberg (AUT)
6.000 Slovan Bratislava (SVK)
6.000 Lugano (SUI)
5.250 Rangers (SCO)
3.500 CFR Cluj (ROU)
3.500 Ferencváros (HUN)