Arsenal, Chelsea wait for big guns

ARSENAL and Chelsea will be pitted against European football's heavyweights in this afternoon's UEFA Champions League draw in Monaco, writes Robert Dineen.

The seeding system will place both London clubs with one of the four strongest sides on the Continent in the first group stage, meaning one of the top eight seeds - Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, AC Milan, Lazio, Borussia Dortmund, Spartak Moscow and Barcelona (though not English holders and top seeds Manchester United) could lie in wait.

Each of the record 32 qualifiers will be given a seeding of between one and four, according to their European record over the past five years, and drawn into eight groups. That will make up Group Phase 1 of the Champions League.

Chelsea's performances in Europe, including their 1998 Cup Winners' Cup triumph, earned them a second seeding while Arsenal are in the third group.

There is no chance of a London derby in the first round as UEFA rules do not allow teams from the one country to be drawn in the same group.

Home and away fixtures begin on 14 September and are due to be completed by 3 November. The two top teams in each group go forward to Phase 2.

The second phase will involve four groups of four, with teams again playing each other twice. All the games will be scheduled to be played by 22 March. The winners and runners-up of each group enter the quarterfinals.

As in the past, the quarterfinals and semi-finals will adopt a knockout format with ties contested over two legs. If Arsenal are to emulate Manchester United's success of last season in the final on 24 May 2000, they will have to play an exhausting 17 matches.

Qualifiers Chelsea will have to go through a total of 18 games if they are to triumph.

All very straightforward.

UEFA have ruled that teams from the same country cannot play on the same night. ITV will show all games on a Wednesday involving British clubs while ONdigital will broadcast games played on a Tuesday.

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