When will Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham find out their next Champions League opponents?
Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham face a wait to find out their next Champions League opponents.
It proved to be a superb night for the London clubs in the Champions League on Wednesday night. All three managed to pick up wins, and all three progressed to the next round as a result, finishing in the coveted top eight.
The top eight offers straight progression to the Round of 16, with the clubs finishing from ninth to 24th battling it out in a play-off round for the right to play one of those top eight teams.
Spurs pulled off a big away win to defeat Eintracht Frankfurt, with Randal Kolo Muani and Dominic Solanke on the scoresheet, while Arsenal beat bottom team Kairat as expected, with Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus all on the scoresheet.
Chelsea’s away win over Napoli was far less straight forward, with the Blues leading through Enzo Fernandez before Napoli rallied back to lead. Joao Pedro then scored twice to snatch a win in Naples and a spot in the top eight to boot. The three London clubs now get a round off, but when will they discover their opponents in the next round?
When will Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham find out their next Champions League opponents?
As mentioned, the 16 teams outside the top eight will now face off to decide which of the eight teams will progress to face the top eight in the Round of 16. The draw for the Champions League play-off round will take place on January 30, and the first leg ties will be played across February 17th and 18th, while the second leg ties will be played across February 24th and 25th, one week later.
As for the Round of 16, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham will find out their opponents when the draw is made on February 27, so there is the best part of a month until the respective managers can plan for their next opponents. The first leg ties for those Round of 16 fixtures will take place across March 10th and 11th, while the second leg will take place across March 17th and 18th.
It’s worth noting that there are no nation restrictions from this point on, unlike the old version of the Champions League. That means teams from the same nation can face each other in any of the remaining rounds. However, only Newcastle United can face another English team should they win their play-off, due to the other English clubs all finishing in the top eight.
The top eight teams will all be seeded according to their league phase positions, and the best seeded team will face one of the four the worst finishing remaining teams and so on. That is a good thing for the top eight teams on paper, but Real Madrid, Inter Milan and holders PSG are all in the play-offs, so there could be some unwanted fixtures still to be had in that Round of 16. All of the London clubs will be watching on with interest as the play-offs play out in the coming weeks.