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Champions League football is back! The draw for the group stages for the 2019-20 season of Europe's elite football competition will be held tonight.
With the English teams dominating last season's knockout stages, all eyes will be on the four teams from England yet again.
Champions League holders Liverpool beat their English counterparts Tottenham Hotspur at the Wanda Metropolitano to lift the trophy and secured their spot in this season's edition, irrespective of their league finish last season.
Premier League champions Manchester City, led by Pep Guardiola will be looking to get their hands on the most coveted trophy in Europe for the first time, having lost the opportunity last season as they crashed out against Tottenham in the semi-final of the competition.
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Europa League winners Chelsea FC make a return to the Champions League this season, as they beat their London rivals Arsenal in the final of the competition. The Blues also finished third in the Premier League which automatically grants them a Champions League spot.
The fourth and last team from England in the Champions League will be Tottenham Hotspur, after their heart-break last season as they lost to Liverpool in the final of the competition. Mauricio Pochettino's side will be looking to replicate their form this season too. They also came fourth in the league.
Arsenal and Manchester United miss out on Champions League action this season, as they will play in the Europa League by the virtue of them finishing 5th and 6th respectively in the Premier League last season.
As the draw is just hours away now, we take a look at all the English teams' best and worst-case scenarios in the group stages as it will definitely have a huge impact on their entire campaign this season.
Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs find themselves in the Pot 2 of the draw, alongside some European heavyweights like Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli. This means Tottenham will not face these teams in the group stages.
Analyzing the other pots for the draw, the best situation Tottenham can end up with, tonight will be Zenit St. Petersburg (Pot 1), Dinamo Zagreb (Pot 3) and Slavia Prague (Pot 4).
This will be a huge boost to the side's Champions League ambitions this season, as the pressure in the group stages will be far less. Pochettino can even rotate the squad in some of the games to concentrate on the Premier League.
The worst possible draw for Tottenham could be FC Barcelona (Pot 1), Inter Milan (Pot 3) and RB Leipzig (Pot 4).
FC Barcelona will be looking to impress in the Champions League yet again this season after their amazing run last season was halted by a shocking 4-0 thumping by Liverpool at Anfield which eliminated the Blaugrana from the competition.
Meanwhile, Inter Milan will be looking to get back to winning ways having signed up a new head coach Antonio Conte and a striker of Romelu Lukaku's quality. RB Leipzig have been impressive in the Bundesliga for the past few seasons, and a trip to Germany to face the side will not be an easy one for Tottenham.
Liverpool/Manchester City/Chelsea FC
It was a great season for English football as the top three English sides in the Premier League each won a major trophy last season as a reward for their relentless efforts.
While Manchester City continued their Premier League dominance winning back-to-back titles, Liverpool won their sixth Champions League in Madrid and Chelsea got their hands on the Europa League in Baku.
These can be the best and the worst possible draws for the three teams who find themselves in Pot 1 of the draw:
Best: Shakhtar Donetsk (Pot 2), Dinamo Zagreb (Pot 3), Slavia Prague (Pot 4)
Worst: Real Madrid (Pot 2), Inter Milan (Pot 3), RB Leipzig (Pot 4)
Inter Milan and RB Leipzig are obviously the two teams to avoid in Pot 3 and Pot 4 respectively, whereas there are some European giants in the Pot 2 which the English top sides will not be very keen to face so early in the competition.
Atletico Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are two of those teams in Pot 2 who can produce some absolute shocks in the competition as they have been continually doing in the past few years.
But, Real Madrid seem to be the absolute contest in Pot 2, having bolstered their squad with over £250 million worth of signings and bringing back their three-time Champions League-winning coach Zinedine Zidane. A trip to Bernabeu will not be a memorable one for any English side in the group stages.
With Chelsea hit by a transfer ban and have a fairly untested squad led by new manager Frank Lampard, the Blues can only hope to avoid top teams in their Champions League group.
Holders Liverpool FC will be ready and all guns blazing for any sort of competition, but the management failing to improve their squad depth by some good signings might just be the reason why it won't be suitable for them to face a big team so early in Europe.
Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have once again bolstered their squad to challenge for all the competitions they participate in, but the Spanish coach's eyes are all set on the ultimate glory in Europe, which will be City's first-ever Champions League trophy ever.
The draw for the group stages will be held tonight in Monaco at 17:00 hours BST (9:30 PM IST), while the first Match-Day is scheduled to be held on September 17th & 18th, 2019.
