Man Utds Best & Worst Case Scenarios Ahead of 2019/20 Europa League Group Stage Draw

Manchester United's Europa League campaign will begin this week when the 2019/20 group stage draw takes place in Monaco on Friday.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side will be among the top seeds in pot one, having won the competition in 2017 and a regular European participant over the last five years. They will be an opponent that are feared by many, but also a major scalp to be claimed.

Here's who they could face, who they'll be hoping to meet and who they'll want to avoid...

Pot 1

Pot one is reserved for the 12 clubs with the highest UEFA Club Coefficient, meaning that United will be joined among the top seeds by the likes of five-time winners Sevilla, 2019 finalists Arsenal, Porto, Roma, Lazio, Sporting CP and others.

None of these teams will face each other in the group stage as the draw will place one club from each of the draw pots (1-4) into the 12 groups (A-L).

Pot 1	UEFA Club Coefficient
Sevilla	104.000
Arsenal	101.000
Porto	93.000
Roma	81.000
Manchester United	78.000
Dynamo Kyiv	65.000
Besiktas	62.000
Basel	54.500
Sporting CP	50.000
CSKA Moscow	48.000
Wolfsburg	40.000
Lazio	37.000

Best Case Draw: N/A

Worst Case Draw: N/A

Pot 2

From a quality standpoint, United shouldn't be worried about any of the teams in pot two. That being said, there is more to consider, especially where long-distance travelling and any potential domestic knock-on effect is involved.

Astana, who are comfortably leading their playoff tie against BATE Borisov, would definitely be one to avoid as the Kazakh city is closer to China than it is to the rest of Europe.

Pot 2	UEFA Club Coefficient
Krasnodar	34.500
Borussia Monchengladbach	29.000
Young Boys	27.500
Astana or BATE Borisov	27.500
APOEL	25.500

Best Case Draw: Young Boys

Worst Case Draw: Astana

Unconfirmed Pots

This is where it gets a little complicated for now. There are still 21 unconfirmed qualifiers until the conclusion of Thursday night's playoff round. Every club involved has a different UEFA Club Coefficient that will determine whether they go into pot two, three or four.

Fellow Premier League side Wolves could end up in pot two or pot three depending on the rest of the qualifiers, but United cannot face another English side at this stage of the competition.

Pot 2 or 3	UEFA Club Coefficient
Saint-Etienne	23.000
Getafe	20.713
Standard Liege	17.500
Braga or Spartak Moscow	31.000 or 16.000
Ludogorets Razgrad or Maribor	27.000 or 18.500
Torino or Wolverhampton Wanderers	14.495 or 17.092

Celtic will take a place in two if they see off Sweden's AIK, who would go in pot four. They will be one to avoid as Scottish clubs often raise their game against English sides in Europe.

Pot 2 or 4	UEFA Club Coefficient
Celtic or AIK	31.000 or 5.500
FC Copenhagen or Riga FC	31.000 or 1.125

The same logic about Celtic would apply to Rangers, who would be a tough, albeit local, opponent. Their lack of recent European football would put them in pot four should they get the better of Legia Warsaw in qualifying, with the Poles set for pot two or three if they make it.

Molde could be a nice draw for Solskjaer if the Norwegians get through their playoff round.

Pot 2, 3 or 4	UEFA Club Coefficient
PSV Eindhoven or Apollon Limassol	37.000 or 12.000
KAA Gent or HNK Rijeka	29.500 or 13.500
Legia Warsaw or Rangers	24.500 or 5.250
Strasbourg or Eintracht Frankfurt	11.699 or 24.000
Slovan Bratislava or PAOK	6.000 or 23.500
FCSB (Steaua) or Vitoria SC	23.000 or 9.646
Linfield or Qarabag	2.250 or 22.000
Feyenoord or Hapoel Be'er Sheva	22.000 or 12.000
Espanyol or Zorya Luhansk	20.713 or 11.500
Malmo or Bnei Yehuda	20.000 or 3.725
Partizan Belgrade or Molde	18.000 or 13.500
AEK Athens or Trabzonspor	14.000 or 8.000

Rennes, who have already qualified but awaiting pot confirmation, will be a lower-ranked side to avoid after their flying start to the new domestic season in France.

Pot 3 or 4	UEFA Club Coefficient
Rennes	11.699
Rosenborg	11.500
Istanbul Basaksehir	10.500
AZ Alkmaar or Royal Antwerp	10.500 or 7.980
Oleksandriya	7.780

Pot 4

For big clubs looking to reach the knockout stages with minimal strain, pot four is always about drawing a favourable team that doesn't involve a lengthy or hostile away trip.

Aaraat-Armenia would be the lowest ranked club in the whole group stage if they qualify, but a midweek away trip to Armenia is a major travel commitment.

Pot 4	UEFA Club Coefficient
LASK Linz	6.250
Wolfsberger AC	6.250
Lugano	6.000
Cluj	3.500
Suduva or Ferencvaros	4.250 or 3.500
Aaraat-Armenia or F91 Dudelange	1.050 or 6.250

Best Case Draw: Lugano

Worst Case Draw: Aaraat-Armenia

Once the draw is made, group stage fixtures will begin on 19 September and conclude 11 weeks later on 12 December, followed by the first knockout draw four days later.

Source : 90min