Arsenal hidden Champions League advantage revealed as Mikel Arteta discovers opponents

Arsenal were pitted against four sides away from home in the highly anticipated UEFA Champions League draw, where fans discovered where they and their team would be travelling this season. Last time, the Gunners managed to reach the competition’s semi-final stage and were eliminated by PSG.

Throughout the tournament, supporters enjoyed some great trips to Madrid, Eindhoven, Lisbon, and Girona. However, a new year means potentially new and of course familiar destinations.

There is also an emphasis on the potential for fatigue caused by the longer trips that clubs can be drawn to face. With teams from Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan in the competition, there was the potential for some very long journeys, but the draw made by Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Kaka for UEFA spared them from these longer journeys.

Instead, from pot one, they were drawn again away to Inter Milan. The Gunners were beaten by the Italian side last season, but in controversial circumstances, with Mikel Merino arguably deserving of a penalty.

Flights are roughly 559 miles from London Gatwick to Milan’s Malpensa airport. The second furthest trip that Mikel Arteta will do during this league phase.

From pot two, Arsenal were drawn against Club Brugge. Considering the teams in such a high pot, the Belgian side will be one that Arteta and the club will have hoped to see, despite their giant-killing status from previous seasons.

A flight from Gatwick to Brugge is just 140 miles. By Eurostar and a connecting train, which is another option for supporters, you would travel 292 miles.

From pot three, the Gunners will face a former Europa League opponent in Slavia Prague. After drawing at the Emirates Stadium 1-1 in 2021, Arteta’s side managed a 4-0 victory in the Czechia’s capital to send them through to the semi-finals.

This is by far the longest trip, covering around 640 miles from Gatwick to Prague. The calendar for the games will be released on Saturday, but the Gunners will hope the fixtures surrounding this clash are not further away from north London.

Lastly, pot four offers a very nice trip to the Basque Country to face Athletic Club, whom the Gunners comfortably beat 3-0 in a pre-season friendly at the Emirates Stadium. A flight from Gatwick to Bilbao is similar to that of Milan and a couple miles short at roughly 557 miles.

In total, this means flying out the Gunners will cover 1896 miles but in total with return trips this means roughly 3792 miles would be covered. For comparison, the club covered 5571 flight miles last season and so have less to travel this time around, a reduction of 1779 miles.

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