Have a question about the Champions League draw? Using a series of fictional people who haven’t written in, I’ll answer your imagined queries. Terry from Bridgend writes: “Hi Dave, you’re looking well. Tell us the top eight from the league please in alphabetical order please. And follow that with the unseeded play-off winners, again alphabetically please.”.
No probs Tezzer. League phase top eight. Arsenal (England). Aston Villa (England). Atletico Madrid (Spain). Barcelona (Spain). Inter (Italy). Leverkusen (Germany). Lille (France). Liverpool (England). Play-off winners. Borussia Dortmund (Germany). Bayern München (Germany). Benfica (Portugal).
Club Brugge (Belgium). Feyenoord (Netherlands). Paris (France). PSV (Netherlands). Real Madrid (Spain). Let’s start by setting the scene for the weekend Premier League action. It starts tonight with Brentford travelling to Leicester so don’t forget to transfer Bryan Mbeumo back into your fantasy team.
Friday. 8pm Leicester v Brentford. Saturday. 12.30pm Everton v Man Utd. 3pm Arsenal v West Ham. 3pm Bournemouth v Wolves. 3pm Fulham v Crystal Palace. 3pm Ipswich v Spurs. 3pm Southampton v Brighton. 5.30pm Aston Villa v Chelsea. Sunday. 2pm Newcastle v Nottingham Forest. 4.30pm Man City v Liverpool.
It’s a double dose of fun this (looks out of window) grey Friday morning. Yes, we’ve got the usual build-up to the weekend Premier League action but also the draw for the knockout phase of the Champions League, a spectacle that won’t feature Manchester City after Pep Guardiola’s men were swept aside by Real Madrid.
For the Premier League, the respective managers of Brighton, Newcastle and Chelsea are first in the hotseat as they regale us with tales of team news, current form and opposition strengths. Then after lunch Pep, Mikel, Ruben and Ange are put under the spotlight.
That Champions League draw in Nyon takes place at 11am UK time. I’ve just read the ‘procedure’ on the UEFA website and it’s all a bit Partridge 1994 World Cup. It takes in the last 16, quarters and semis and apparently by the end of it we’ll even know the designated home team in the final. “Gooooaallll”.
