Is your favorite team set for an easy ride or a grueling battle in the Champions League? Opta’s supercomputer has crunched the numbers, revealing which clubs have the kindest draws and which English side faces a nightmare schedule. The new format promises excitement, but not every team got lucky!

The eagerly anticipated Champions League draw has been scrutinized by Opta’s advanced supercomputer, which has now unveiled a comprehensive ranking of fixture difficulty for all participating clubs. This analysis offers crucial insights into which teams face a seemingly straightforward path and which are destined for an arduous European campaign, with significant implications for an English side.

Under the new 36-team league format, now in its second season, every club is tasked with playing eight distinct opponents – four at home and four away. This innovative structure ensures a wide variance in fixture lists, making a precise assessment of difficulty paramount for clubs aiming for success in the prestigious European football competition.

Arsenal, an English contender, has emerged as one of the significant beneficiaries of the Champions League draw, according to Opta’s data. Their schedule includes encounters with teams such as Olympiacos, Slavia Prague, and the Kazakh champions Kairat Almaty, who are notably ranked a low 474th globally.

This particular fixture against a lower-ranked team has played a crucial role in significantly reducing the average difficulty rating of Arsenal’s overall opponents. Consequently, the Gunners have been handed what is statistically the third-easiest run of games across the entire competition, setting a promising tone for their Champions League aspirations.

Tottenham also finds themselves in a relatively advantageous position. Their schedule features matches against Dortmund, Villarreal, Eintracht Frankfurt, and Bodø/Glimt – a collection of draws considered less formidable before the official ceremony in Monaco. Despite also facing Paris Saint-Germain and Monaco, their overall fixture difficulty ranks them among the top four easiest routes.

Conversely, the outlook for Newcastle United is considerably more challenging. Opta’s supercomputer has identified Eddie Howe’s squad as having one of the five most difficult fixture lists in the competition. Their daunting itinerary includes clashes with European giants like Barcelona, PSG, Leverkusen, Benfica, Union Saint-Gilloise, and Athletic Bilbao.

This demanding array of opponents represents five of the eight worst-case scenarios for English clubs in the draw, posing a significant test to the depth and resilience of a squad that is still gaining valuable experience in elite European football. The Magpies will undoubtedly need to be at their absolute best to navigate this tough Champions League journey.

While established clubs face varied challenges, the supercomputer also highlighted debutants Pafos and Copenhagen as having the joint easiest schedules. Despite their favorable draws, both teams are still widely anticipated to face considerable struggles against the highly competitive elite of the Champions League, underscoring the formidable nature of the tournament.