Arsenal set to avoid nightmare scenario next season as Champions League pots revealed

Arsenal are set to avoid a 'worst-case scenario' Champions League group after being placed in pot two for next season's competition.

The Gunners finished second in this season's Premier League, automatically qualifying them to play in the Champions League for the first time since 2017.

But their lack of success in European competition has meant that their UEFA coefficient - ranked over a five-year period - is low.

Arsenal are currently in 23rd place in UEFA's club coefficient rankings. That means that, given each Champions League pot contains eight teams, the Gunners would have been placed in pot three if all other teams ahead of them had qualified for Europe's top competition.

However, a number of teams ahead of them - including Juventus, Roma, Chelsea and Tottenham - have all failed to qualify for next season's Champions League.

And Arsenal are now confirmed to be in pot two for the upcoming competition, even with teams left to qualify. It means they avoid a potentially worst-case scenario that could have arisen had they been in pot three.

Which teams will Arsenal not be drawn against?

The major boost for Arsenal is that they will not face Real Madrid in the group stages, with the 14-time winners also drawn into pot two.

Other European giants in the pot include Borussia Dortmund and Atletico Madrid, as well as this season's finalists Inter Milan.

In pot one, the Gunners cannot draw reigning champions Manchester City, as two teams from the same association cannot face each other in the group phase. That also means an early clash with Newcastle, who are in pot three or four, is off the table.

But while Arsenal have avoided a potential 'group of death' scenario in one sense, there is no guarantee that their path to the knockouts will be simple.

Pot three contains this season's semi-finalists AC Milan, while league champions Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Napoli and PSG are all in pot one.

Based upon current UEFA coefficients, their best-case scenario would be to draw Feyenoord, Celtic and Lens in the group stage.

Celtic are among the teams not guaranteed to be in pot three or four due to all 32 teams not yet qualifying, with Real Sociedad also in the same position. Among the teams that must progress through the qualification phase are PSV, Galatasaray, Rangers, Marseille and Young Boys.