The Champions League draw is just around the corner, but one match is already off the menu for Arsenal
Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori during Arsenal vs Coventry
Arsenal already know one match they can't play in the league phase of this season's Champions League(Image: Javier Garcia/Shutterstock)
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Arsenal will soon learn their opponents for the league phase of the Champions League as they aim to go one better than last season's final defeat. They already know one fixture they can't face.
Mikel Arteta and his players know they will face two opponents from each seed pot. Last season, the top-seeded opponents from pot one were Bayern Munich at home and Inter Milan away.
The Gunners also faced Inter at the San Siro in 2025/26. As explained by UEFA when it introduced the new league phase format ahead of the 2024/25 season, the same exact match-up can't take place at this stage of the competition in three successive years.
"If any teams that already played against each other in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in the 2024/25 season are again drawn against each other, with the same home team, in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League in this 2025/26 season, those teams will not be able to be drawn against each other with the same home team in the 2026/27 season (although, for the sake of clarity, those teams could still be drawn against each other at the venue of the other team)"," UEFA explained.
This doesn't mean Arsenal and Inter can't meet at all in this season's competition. A league phase match-up at the Emirates Stadium is still an option, while there is nothing stopping the teams from facing off over two legs in the knockout rounds.
Inter beat Arsenal in their November 2024 meeting, when a Hakan Calhanoglu penalty handed Arteta's side their only defeat of that season's league phase. The Gunners got their revenge last season, though, with Gabriel Jesus scoring twice in a 3-1 win for the Premier League side in January.
It isn't the only fixture banned from taking place under these rules. Liverpool beat Real Madrid at home in each of the last two seasons, so another Anfield meeting between the teams is off the table this term.
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Gabriel Jesus scoring for Arsenal against Inter Milan
Arsenal won 3-1 at the San Siro last season(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
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Arsenal won all eight matches in last season's league phase to finish top of the table and avoid an extra play-off round. They then secured knockout victories over Bayer Leverkusen, Sporting CP and Atletico Madrid before losing on penalties to Paris Saint-Germain in the final.
The London side are one of five Premier League representatives in this season's Champions League. They are joined by Manchester City, Manchester United, Aston Villa and Liverpool with the league phase beginning on September 8.
City are the most recent Premier League side to be crowned kings of Europe, beating Inter in the 2023 final. Real Madrid won the following year's edition before PSG claimed back-to-back titles in 2025 and 2026.