Champions League Draw: Five English Teams Target PSG

The Champions League is back in Monaco, back under the lights of the Grimaldi Forum, and this time it arrives with a distinctly English edge.

Five Premier League clubs step into the League Phase draw this evening with one shared target: knock Paris Saint-Germain off their European throne.

Arsenal, the champions of England and last season’s beaten finalists, lead the charge. Manchester City, Liverpool, Manchester United and Europa League winners Aston Villa complete a powerful English contingent in a revamped competition that now feels like a marathon as much as a showcase.

PSG, though, still loom over it all.

Arsenal out for revenge, PSG chasing a three‑peat

The scars from last season’s final are still fresh in north London. Arsenal went the distance with PSG, only to lose on penalties. That defeat has shaped their summer and colours their approach to this campaign.

They return not just as Premier League winners but as the side most widely tipped to challenge PSG’s bid for a third consecutive Champions League crown. The French champions have strengthened again, refusing to stand still after back-to-back European titles, and arrive at the draw as the team everyone wants to avoid.

Arsenal, though, are no longer the plucky chasers. They are in Pot 1, shoulder to shoulder with PSG and the rest of Europe’s heavyweights: Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Inter Milan, Manchester City, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid. That is the company they now keep.

Behind them, the old giants of Spain wait in the wings. Barcelona remain a threat, while Real Madrid, now back under the command of Jose Mourinho for a second spell, bring familiar menace and drama. If PSG are the benchmark, Madrid are the wildcard that can tear up any script.

Five English clubs at Europe’s top table

For the Premier League, this is a statement year.

Arsenal and Manchester City arrive as champions and runners-up. Liverpool are back in Pot 1, restored to the elite after finishing fifth but carrying the weight of their coefficient and recent European pedigree. Aston Villa, resurgent under their current project, return to the Champions League as Europa League holders and domestic fourth-place finishers, slotting into Pot 2.

Manchester United, also in Pot 2, are back at what they still call “their” competition, even if recent history has not always matched the rhetoric. They sit alongside Borussia Dortmund, Roma, Sporting CP, Porto, Club Brugge, Real Betis and PSV Eindhoven.

Pot 3 houses dangerous floaters: Feyenoord, Lille, Bodo/Glimt, Napoli, RB Leipzig, Villarreal, Fenerbahce, Shakhtar Donetsk and Galatasaray. Pot 4, often dismissed as cannon fodder, is anything but straightforward, with Slavia Prague, Slovan Bratislava, Stuttgart, AEK Athens, LASK, Como, Lens, Viking and Sabah all waiting to spring a surprise.

No English side will get an easy ride. Not under this format.

The new League Phase: eight different opponents, no hiding

This season’s Champions League again follows UEFA’s new League Phase model. The old comfort of a familiar group, home and away against three opponents, has gone.

In its place: eight games, eight different opponents, one sprawling league table.

All 36 clubs are split into four seeding pots of nine, based on their club coefficients at the start of the season. From there, the draw becomes a puzzle.

Each team will face two opponents from each pot. One at home, one away, across Pots 1, 2, 3 and 4. Eight fixtures in total, with no repeat pairings, no double-header, no time to quietly correct an early mistake against the same side a fortnight later.

For Arsenal and City, it means a gauntlet of top-level tests where every night feels like a knockout tie. For Villa and United, it is a chance to prove they belong back among the elite, not just on reputation but on results across the continent.

Monaco stage set and how to watch

The draw takes place today, Thursday, August 27, 2026, from 5pm BST at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, the traditional home of European football’s biggest administrative showpiece.

In the UK, TNT Sports 1 will show the draw live, with coverage beginning at 5pm BST and the balls coming out of the bowls shortly afterwards. TNT Sports subscribers can stream the event via the HBO Max app and website, while UEFA.com and the TNT Sports YouTube channel will also carry the draw live at no cost.

For those who prefer words to pictures, Standard Sport will run a live blog, charting every twist of the draw as the League Phase takes shape.

Key dates: a season-long campaign

The calendar underlines the scale of the task. This is no quick sprint before Christmas.

• Matchday 1: September 8-10, 2026
• Matchday 2: October 13/14, 2026
• Matchday 3: October 20/21, 2026
• Matchday 4: November 3/4, 2026
• Matchday 5: November 24/25, 2026
• Matchday 6: December 8/9, 2026
• Matchday 7: January 19/20, 2026
• Matchday 8: January 27, 2026

From early September to late January, the League Phase will run alongside domestic battles, testing depth, resilience and nerve.

For Arsenal, it is another shot at the trophy that slipped away on penalties. For City, Liverpool, United and Villa, it is a chance to drag the Champions League back under English control.

PSG have ruled Europe for two seasons. The draw in Monaco will tell us the first part of the story: which of England’s five believes they can finally bring that reign to an end.