Europa League group stage – Who did Arsenal, Tottenham, Leicester, Celtic and Rangers draw?

Premier League representatives Arsenal, Tottenham and Leicester will fancy their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the 2020/21 Europa League after receiving relatively favourable group stage draws.

The picture looks slightly different for Britain’s representatives north of the border however, with Celtic and Rangers facing some big games in order to secure their places in the latter stages for a second straight season.

Celtic manager Neil Lennon will have watched on with interest as The Bhoys were dropped into this year’s group of death alongside AC Milan, Sparta Prague and Lille, while Rangers boss Steven Gerrard can begin making plans for his side’s fixtures against Benfica, Standard Liege and Lech Poznan.

Arsenal will share Group B with Austria’s Rapid Wien, Man Utd boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s previous club Molde and Irish side Dundalk, who return to the group stage for the first time since 2016.

Spurs, meanwhile, will face Bulgaria’s Ludogorets, Austrian side LASK and Belgium’s Royal Antwerp in Group J, while Leicester must negotiate a potentially tricky Group G alongside SC Braga of Portugal, Greece’s AEK Athens and Ukranian side Zorya Luhansk.

Among the other notable names in the competition, Napoli were drawn in a tasty-looking Group F with Real Sociedad, AZ Alkmaar and Rijeka.

And AS Roma will face Young Boys, CFR Cluj and CSKA Sofia on their mission to qualify from Group A.

This year’s group stage begins on Thursday 22 October and concludes with the final in Gdansk, Poland, on Wednesday 26 May 2021.

BT Sport – the undisputed home of European football – will once again be with you every step of the way in the 2020/21 season, with exclusive live coverage of every single game from both the Champions League and Europa League on TV and online on btsport.com and the award-winning BT Sport app.

Group stage draw in full:

What are the dates for the 2020/21 Europa League?

Group stage

Matchday 1 - October 22

Matchday 2 - October 29

Matchday 3 - November 5

Matchday 4 - November 26

Matchday 5 - December 3

Matchday 6 - December 10

Round of 32 draw - December 14

Knockout stages

Round of 32, first leg - February 18

Round of 32, second leg - February 25

Round of 16 draw - February 26

Round of 16, first leg - March 11

Round of 16, second leg - March 18

Quarter-final and semi-final draws - March 19

Quarter-finals, first leg - April 8

Quarter-finals, second leg - April 15

Semi-finals, first leg - April 29

Semi-finals second leg - May 6

Final - May 26

Europa League stats:                                            

• Arsenal will face a side from the Republic of Ireland for the very first time in European competition.

• Celtic have only won of of their 10 previous European meetings with Milan (D3 L6), losing each of their last three in a row - most recently a 0-3 defeat in the 2013-14 Champions League group stage.
  

• The Bhoys have only lost one of their six previous Europa League matches against Italian clubs (W2 D3), winning both of their last two against Lazio in the 2019-20 group stage.

• Lille will be the seventh French side to face Celtic in major European competition; the Scottish club are winless in their last eight visits to France (D3 L5) since beating Nantes 3-1 in November 1966.

• Leicester will face a Portuguese opponent for just the third time in European competition, with their most recent such game being a 5-0 defeat away at Porto in the 2016-17 Champions League.

• Ukrainian sides haven't won any of their last eight games against English opponents in European competition, suffering defeats in seven of these eight meetings (D1), with Leicester hoping to continue that run.

• Rangers are unbeaten in their last 11 European matches against Portuguese opponents (W6 D5) since losing 1-0 to Maritimo in the 2004-05 UEFA Cup.

• Ludogerets are the second Bulgarian side that Spurs have faced in European competition, having beaten Lokomotiv Plovdiv in this season's qualifying phase.
  

• Neither Spurs nor their manager Jose Mourinho have ever faced any of their three group stage opponents for the 2020/21 Europa League.