Chelsea and Arsenal are two of the clubs that are likely to be affected by UEFA’s new rules regarding seeding in the Champion’s League.
Previously teams that were in the Champion’s League were seeded according to performances in the 5 previous seasons. Generally that tended to lead to the bigger teams avoiding each other in the early stages of the competition.
For the 2015-2016 season, however, UEFA have changed the ranking rules to mean that the top 8 seeds will belong to the winners of the top 7 leagues in Europe, as well as the current holders of the competition.
In previous years their consistent performances in the Champion’s League meant that both Arsenal and Chelsea were placed in Pot 1 when it came to the group stage draw. Now, as both teams have been knocked out of the competition and therefore can’t possibly win in, only the Premier League Champion’s will be seeded in the top group.
As that looks likely to be Chelsea, Jose Mourinho will be pleased to see his team gaining a top ranking. When he looks a little closer, however, it means there’s a likelihood the Blues could face a tough group. With only the winners of each league gaining top seed status, Chelsea could be in Pot 1 and yet still face the likes of Real Madrid, PSG, Lazio or Wolfsburg.