Chelsea will go into Thursday’s Champions League draw hoping to go at least one better than they did last season, where they were dumped out at the semi-final stage by beaten finalists Atletico Madrid.
Jose Mourinho’s side are again among the top seeds owing to their stellar record in Europe over a number of years.
Their placing in Pot 1 ensures they will avoid the very best teams – the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona – and English teams cannot be drawn together, ruling out Manchester City and Liverpool.
But there are still a couple of dangerous scenarios that the Blues will be keen to avoid.
Worst case scenario for Chelsea
Chelsea, Paris St-Germain, Ajax, Roma
Best case scenario for Chelsea
Chelsea, Basel, Sporting Lisbon, Maribor
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Pot 1 Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Porto
Pot 2 Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk, Basel,Zenit Saint Petersburg, Manchester City
Pot 3 Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, Liverpool, Sporting CP, Galatasaray, Athletic Bilbao
Pot 4 Anderlecht, Roma, APOEL, BATE Borisov, Ludogorets Razgrad, Maribor, Monaco, Malmo FF
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