What are Arsenal's Champions League fixtures this season? Full match schedule as Gunners face French giants and daunting San Siro trip

10/01/2024 08:03 AM

Arsenal’s 2024/25 Champions League campaign is underway, with the Gunners looking to make it further in Europe than last season.

Mikel Arteta‘s men started away against Atalanta and played out a goalless draw, and they now face Paris Saint-Germain, live on talkSPORT, next.

Last year, Arsenal reached the last eight but were knocked out by Bayern Munich.

This time, they’ll be aiming for the semi-finals at a minimum, but first, they must overcome plenty of tricky opponents to qualify as one of the eight best teams.

The Champions League has expanded, and the format has changed this year.

Gone are the days of groups of four, with each team now in the same league, and only the top eight sides after eight matches will automatically qualify for the last 16.

The teams who finish 9th to 24th will all compete in a two-legged play-off, and sides that finish 25th or lower are eliminated, with no access to the Europa League anymore.

So, the Gunners will have their sights set on ensuring they avoid the lottery of the play-offs.

What are Arsenal’s Champions League fixtures?

With a new format, the draw changed as well.

Each team plays eight games, with four at home and four away, but rather than playing the same team twice, it’s a new side for each home and away encounter.

The Champions League teams were divided into pots based on their UEFA coefficient ranking, putting Arsenal in Pot 2.

From there, the Gunners were drawn to play against two teams from Pots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

So, they are set to play a variety of sides, with one team from each pot at home and away.

From Pot 1, Arsenal have been drawn against Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan.

The French giants visit north London on Tuesday, October 1, while the Gunners face a daunting trip to the San Siro on Wednesday, November 6.

In Pot 2, they’ve already played Atalanta and will then play Shakhtar Donetsk at the Emirates on Tuesday, October 22.

That means by the time the Gunners play their fifth Champions League game, they would have faced all of their Pot 1 and Pot 2 opponents.

So, if they take a good number of points from those games, they should be in a strong place to take a top-eight spot.

From Pot 3, Arsenal travel to Portugal to play Sporting Lisbon on Tuesday, November 26.

Dinamo Zagreb are then the Gunners’ final home game on Wednesday, January 22.

And in Pot 4, Arsenal head to Monaco on Wednesday, December 11 before their group campaign concludes with a visit to Spain and a match against Girona on Wednesday, January 29.

If they don’t finish in the top eight, they will have to take part in a two-legged play-off to reach the last 16.