The draws are out and we have Group H - BATE Borisov, Cologne and Red Star Belgrade. The only real challenging bit will be the travelling and taking it too lightly. We have the squad to progress without too much hassle or playing with too many of our first teamers. Final groups Europa League group stage draw Group A: Villarreal, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Astana, Slavia Prague Group B: Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Partizan Belgrade, Skenderbeu Group C: Braga, Ludogorets, Hoffenheim, Istanbul Basaksehir Group D: AC Milan, Austria Vienna, NK Rijeka, AEK Athens Group E: Lyon, Everton,Atalanta, Apollon Limassol Group F: FC Copenhagen, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sheriff Tiraspol, FC Zlin Group G: Viktoria Plzen, Steaua Bucharest, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, FC Lugano Group H: Arsenal, BATE Borisov, Cologne, Red Star Belgrade Group I: Salzburg, Marseille, Vitoria Guimaraes, Konyaspor Group J: Athletic Bilbao, Hertha Berlin, Zorya Luhansk, Ostersunds Group K: Lazio, Nice, Zulte Waregem, Vitesse Arnhem. Group L: Zenit, Real Sociedad, Rosenborg, Vardar Skopje
Haven't wummed you at all this season, so: Enjoy your 2800 mile round-trip to Belarus and 2600 mile round-trip to Serbia. Both delightful places to visit mid-winter. I'm sure there'll be a brave few arsenal fans who face the arctic temperatures and lunatic local fans. Your biggest challenge will probably be avoiding serious crowd trouble at Red Star. Their ultras are complete head jobs.
The picture they've chosen to use on BBC pretty much sums up my thoughts on that draw please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image
A big thing we'll have to deal with, but if we use our squad intelligently, then it should minimise the ill effects.
I'm actually looking forward to these games. They are very winnable from our perspective and could be a real fillip for the team. We've never been in this comp before so why not embrace it and go out and try to win it. Plus we can laugh at the Spuds this year getting their arses handed to them by Real Madrid
Much too much is made of 'travelling' to far flung places. If our squad can't deal with the extra 80mins it takes to fly to Belgrade as opposed to Paris then they can do one. Even Bate is only 4.5 hours on a plane. I could think of very few things as relaxing as cotching in a first class seat on a plane with no family around and just your mates. Stressful travel? **** off.
Serbia is between Italy and Greece.(formerly Yugoslavia innit) People tend to think its further East because the people and language are Slavic in origin.