The Gunners were handed a favourable draw, but Everton didn't get away quite so lightly in Pot Two
Arsenal face two tasy trips to Eastern Europe, plus Bundesliga side Cologne. The Gunners were paired with BATE Borisov (Belarus) and Red Star Belgrade (Serbia) in Group H for their first campaign in this competition since the 1999/2000 season, when they lost to Galatasaray on penalties in the final.
Their only meetings with Cologne – the beloved team of former Gunner Lukas Podolski – came in the 1970/71 Fairs Cup, when both sides won their respective home matches. They last played Red Star in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup, meanwhile, when the Serbian side went through on away goals.
Everton have been handed a tough draw alongside Lyon and Serie A side Atalanta, plus Cypriot side Apollon Limassol.
Graham Potter is the only English manager in the Europa League group stage, having overseen Ostersunds' safe passage through with a dramatic play-off victory over PAOK. The Swedish side were playing in the fourth tier as recently as six years ago, and their rewards here are matches against Athletic Club, Hertha Berlin and Zorya Luhansk.
The first round of Europa League qualifying actually took place on June 29, so as usual it's been a long time coming getting to this point.
The first group games will be played on Thursday, September 14.
Group A: Villarreal, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Astana, Slavia Prague
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
Group B: Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Partizan Belgrade, Skenderbeu
Group C: Braga, Ludogorets, Hoffenheim, Istanbul Basaksehir
Group D: Milan, Austria Vienna, Rijeka, AEK Athens
Group E: Lyon, Everton, Atalanta, Apollon Limassol
Group F: Copenhagen, Lokomotiv Moscow, Sheriff Tiraspol, Zlin
Group G: Viktoria Plzen, Steaua Bucharest, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, Lugano
Group H: Arsenal, BATE Borisov, Cologne, Red Star Belgrade
Group I: Salzburg, Marseille, Vitoria, Konyaspor
Group J: Athletic Club, Hertha Berlin, Zorya Luhansk, Ostersunds
Group K: Lazio, Nice, Zulte Waregem, Vitesse Arnhem
Group L: Zenit St. Petersburg, Real Sociedad, Rosenborg
The pots (to remind you)*
Pot 1: Arsenal, Zenit St. Petersburg, Lyon, Dynamo Kiev, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Lazio, Milan, Viktoria Plzen, FC Salzburg, FC Copenhagen, Braga
Pot 2: Steaua Bucharest, Ludogorets Razgrad, BATE Borisov, Everton, Young Boys, Marseille, Real Sociedad, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Lokomotiv Moscow, Austria Vienna, Hertha Berlin, Nice
Pot 4: Apollon Limassol, Istanbul Basaksehir, Konyaspor, Vitesse Arnhem, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Skenderbeu, FC Zlin, AEK Athens, FC Lugano, Vardar Skopje, Ostersunds
*Teams from the same association couldn't be drawn against one another. UEFA also kept Ukrainian and Russian teams apart
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Joe was the Deputy Editor at FourFourTwo until 2022, having risen through the FFT academy and been on the brand since 2013 in various capacities.
By weekend and frustrating midweek night he is a Leicester City fan, and in 2020 co-wrote the autobiography of former Foxes winger Matt Piper – subsequently listed for both the Telegraph and William Hill Sports Book of the Year awards.
