Troy Deeney rates Arsenal’s Champions League hopes while giving Premier League rivals ‘0% likelihood’ | Football

Troy Deeney says Arsenal have the ‘best team and squad’ within the Champions League however the club’s lack of ‘history’ within the competition means they continue to be an ‘unknown’.

Arsenal breezed through to the last 16 with a 100 per cent record within the group stage, winning eight from eight while scoring 23 goals and conceding on only 4 occasions.

Liverpool, Tottenham, Chelsea and Manchester City ensured they joined their Premier League rivals in the combination with top-eight finishes, together with Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Sporting.

In two days’ time, all eyes will probably be on UEFA’s headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, for the eagerly anticipated draw, where the eight winners of the two-legged play-offs – including Newcastle United – will fill the remaining last-16 spots.

Friday’s draw will allocate the respective pathways for the teams still within the hunt, meaning all 16 hopefuls will know their potential opposition within the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final.

As one among the 2 top seeds, Arsenal are set to be paired with one among Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen or Atalanta in the subsequent round.

No matter who’s plucked from the hat, the Gunners know they will probably be backed because the overwhelming favourites to progress given their outstanding form each in Europe and domestically.

But when rating the probabilities of all six English clubs, Deeney was unable to separate Arsenal and Manchester City given the latter’s recent success the competition under Pep Guardiola.

‘I’ve gone with Arsenal and Manchester City [as favourites], each 30 per cent each,’ the ex-Watford captain explained on CBS Sports.

‘I believe Arsenal have gotten the most effective team and the most effective squad but there’s that unknown, we’re undecided within the Champions League. They’ve never won it of their history.

‘Manchester City have won it of their history, they’re coming right into a phase where it’s beginning to fit right, they’ve got Gianluigi Donnarumma there, they won it last yr, obviously they’ve got Erling Haaland for the goals… it feels a bit different. So I can’t really split Arsenal and Manchester City.’

Turning his attentions to Liverpool, Deeney identified how the possible return of Alexander Isak could provide a fine addition should Arne Slot’s men progress into the latter stages.

The previous Watford striker is less confident about Chelsea and Newcastle’s hopes, though, giving the 2 teams a ten per cent likelihood of lifting the trophy this yr.

‘I’m at all times going to offer Liverpool a likelihood due to history that they’ve had as a club on this competition. They usually’ve obviously got players coming back,’ Deeney went on.

‘If Liverpool are to progress through, they might have the likes of Alexander Isak back on the bench.

‘I’m giving Chelsea 10 per cent simply because they’ve won the Club World Cup, they won the Europa Conference League last yr, they’ve got such a young and talented team.

‘I’m undecided on the Chelsea manager overall in these competitions because we haven’t seen him yet so I’ll give them a ten per cent likelihood.

‘Very similar with Newcastle due to their ability to be strong, organised, so good from set-pieces they usually get to tweak their team depending on who they play over the 2 legs.’

Thomas Frank oversaw a formidable group-stage campaign in command of Tottenham, steering the club to 5 victories and only one defeat to secure a fourth-place finish.

Nonetheless, Spurs find themselves in disarray following a wretched run of domestic results which ultimately led to Frank’s dismissal, with Igor Tudor taking on the reins on an interim basis.

Given their plight, Deeney believes it will go down as one among the most important shocks within the history of the competition should the north London outfit in some way get their hands on the trophy.

‘Tottenham Hotspur have about as much likelihood of winning as me playing again. Inconceivable,’ he said.

‘They don’t have a superb team, we’re undecided how the manager is, they’ve got no confidence through the team, they’ve got 13 fit players. It’s not 0 per cent but it surely’s as close because it may very well be.’

How you can watch the Champions League draw on TV and live stream

The draw for the subsequent round of the Champions League takes place on Friday February 27 at 11am UK time.

It’ll be available to observe on TNT Sports 1 and freed from charge on the TNT Sports YouTube channel.

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