After six years away, the Gunners have booked their return to Europe’s elite competition with a second-place finish in the Premier League while avoiding a number of big guns in next season’s first round.
Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Porto will all be kept away from the Emirates Stadium while the likes of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and Napoli could all be drawn against Arsenal.
AC Milan and Real Sociedad confirmed their place in next season’s Champions League over the weekend, which guaranteed the pot Mikel Arteta’s side will be drawn out of on August 31 due to their strong UEFA coefficient ranking.
The final coefficients for the season are still to be confirmed but much of the draw is already taking shape, with the top leagues’ champions and Europa League winners in Pot 1. Inter Milan will knock Feyenoord out of the pot should they win the Champions League in next month’s final against Manchester City.
Newcastle are one of a few teams whose ranking in the draw hinges on the various qualifiers that must take place at the start of next season, although English teams cannot be drawn together in the groups.
A variety of teams have booked their place in the play-offs, including Rangers, Marseille and PSV Eindhoven.
Projected Champions League draw pots
Pot 1: Manchester City, Roma/Sevilla, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli, Benfica.
Pot 2: Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, Borussia Dortmund, Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Porto.
Pot 3: RB Salzburg, AC Milan, Lazio, Crvena Zvedza.
Pot 4: Union Berlin, Lens.
Qualified teams with pot to be confirmed: Inter Milan (1 or 2), Feyenoord (1 or 3), Shakhtar Donetsk (2 or 3), Newcastle (3 or 4), Celtic (3 or 4), Real Sociedad (3 or 4).
