Arsenal have the most manageable Champions League draw of the Premier League five, while Manchester City were handed the hardest one. Liverpool sit closer to the middle, with NBC Sports rating their league-phase test at 4/10 after ranking Arsenal at 6/10 and City at 8.5/10.
Arsenal and City sit at opposite ends
NBC Sports did not hide its view of the spread. “On the whole, the draw wasn’t particularly kind to the Premier League’s five representatives,” the outlet's soccer feature staff wrote, and the rankings back that up.
Arsenal finished top of the 2025-26 league phase last season, then arrived here with a perfect five-match Champions League run. They also ended the Premier League campaign on 85 points, so Mikel Arteta's side are coming into Europe from a strong base.
City are the reverse case. They finished 8th in last season's league phase and come into this draw off a mixed five-match European run, so an 8.5/10 rating feels heavy but not surprising.
Liverpool's middle ground and the rest of the Premier League five
Liverpool's 4/10 rating makes them the most comfortable of the other three clubs in NBC Sports' ranking, and the outlet projected them to finish 5th of 36 teams. That fits a team that finished 3rd in last season's league phase and has still looked established in Europe, even if the route this time is not as clean as Arsenal's.
Manchester United's draw included Atleti, Sporting CP and Como, with three of their five toughest games at Old Trafford. They finished 3rd in the Premier League, but the schedule still looks tricky enough to ask questions early.
Aston Villa also drew a rough set, with PSG, Barcelona and Dortmund among the names on their list. NBC Sports gave them an 8/10 rating, which puts them much closer to City's end of the scale than Liverpool's.
The basic read is straightforward enough: Arsenal got the best landing spot, City got the toughest, and Liverpool sit in between. The league phase starts with those differences already baked in, and that should matter once the fixtures are played in the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League.
Written by Jack Mercer with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 1 outlet. How we work →
