Bayern Munich (H) Inter Milan (A) Atletico Madrid (H) Club Brugge (A) Olympiacos (H) Slavia Prague (A) Kairat Almaty (H) Athletic Club (A) What are your thoughts on those opponents? Some pretty tough ties there on paper. I'm not sure if the fixtures will be in that specific order, but if they are, we will playing our 3 toughest opponents in the opening 3 games lol.
You mean Kazakhstan? They are based there, yes, but we're playing them at home, so we don't need to worry about that long haul flight.
Just saw Spurs' run and they have (on paper at least) a very favourable fixture list. Definitely the best from all the English slides. They should easily be targeting a top-8 finish.
The group stage is a joke TBH. 24 of 32 teams qualify. It's just a money making exercise. Sure, some teams will have to play an extra round - 9th to 24th - but that's just more cash to pocket. PSG finished 15th last year and won the tournament. We just need to be in the top 24 and for that we'll need to pick up c12 points from 24 available. 4 wins and 4 losses will likely do it. We could do something like this at it would be fine Bayern Munich (H) - draw Inter Milan (A) - lose Atletico Madrid (H) - draw Club Brugge (A) - win Olympiacos (H) - draw Slavia Prague (A) - win Kairat Almaty (H) - win Athletic Club (A) - lose 12 points. Get through - pick up form - win the tournament.
The obvious kicker is that if you don't finish in the top-8, you have to play an extra 2 games. Given how packed the fixture schedule is these days, we could do without the congestion. Plus, you'd rather have your qualification guaranteed to the RO16.
Quite a conservative points prediction, I'd say at worst we are looking at 17-19pts from the 24 pts available, possible slip up's (draws or losses) to IM, AM, BM, CB. 16 pts got you straight through to the KO's last year so I am confident we will do it again.
Fixture scheduling is confirmed: Athletic Club v Arsenal - September 16, 5.45pm Arsenal v Olympiacos – October 1, 8pm Arsenal v Atletico Madrid – October 21, 8pm Slava Prague v Arsenal – November 4, 5.45pm Arsenal v Bayern Munich - November 26, 8pm Club Brugge v Arsenal - December 10, 8pm Inter Milan v Arsenal - January 20, 2026, 8pm Arsenal v Kairat Almaty – January 28, 2026, 8pm
My thoughts on the outcomes of each match Athletic Club v Arsenal - September 16, 5.45pm - 3pts Arsenal v Olympiacos – October 1, 8pm - 3pts Arsenal v Atletico Madrid – October 21, 8pm - 3pts Slava Prague v Arsenal – November 4, 5.45pm - 3pts Arsenal v Bayern Munich - November 26, 8pm - 1 pt Club Brugge v Arsenal - December 10, 8pm - 1pt Inter Milan v Arsenal - January 20, 2026, 8pm - 1 pts Arsenal v Kairat Almaty – January 28, 2026, 8pm[/QUOTE] - 3pts total points - 18 pts = Straight through to the knockout stage, easy peasy!
How's that any different to a team finishing 2nd in their group (old version) and then going on to win it? That happened many times. I actually think we had better games last Season with this new format - the 'league stage' game felt more meaningful and competitive.
