Arsenal have the best chance of winning the Champions League this season of any English club, according to TNT Sports pundit Ally McCoist.
The Gunners reached the semi-finals of the competition last campaign before losing to eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain. Premier League champions Liverpool are regarded as more likely to triumph in Europe than Mikel Arteta’s side this year, but McCoist thinks the London side have the edge over the Reds in one key area:
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“Liverpool were fantastic last year and deserved league winners, but I just think Arsenal defensively might be better. The one thing Arsenal do better than most is defend and that is why I think they might be a better option [to win the Champions League.]”
“And there is nobody who complained more about Arsenal not having a centre-forward than me, and they have one now.”
The best defences win knockout tournaments
It is not a coincidence that Arsenal were the English cluv who made it the furthest in the Champions League last season. PSG may have proved too strong, but they had their chances to make it through to the final.
As McCoist points out, they are among the best in Europe defensively. If the Gunners do negotiate their way through the league phase of the competition, they will be perfectly suited for the knockout rounds.
Who will Arsenal face in the Champions League this season?
Arteta’s team take on Athletic Bilbao away from home in their league phase opener on Tuesday evening. At the start of October, they then face Olympiakos at the Emirates.
Their six other matches are Atletico Madrid (h), Slavia Prague (a), Bayern Munich (h), Club Brugge (a), Inter Milan (a) and FC Kairat (h). With the exception of the away game against Inter, it is a pretty kind set of fixtures.
Read more about the Arsenal First Team Squad for 2025/26 here