Troy Deeney rates Arsenal’s Champions League hopes while giving Premier League rivals ‘0% chance’
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Arsenal have ‘the best team and the best squad’ in the Champions League, says Troy Deeney (Picture: Getty) Troy Deeney says Arsenal have the ‘best team and squad’ in the Champions League but the club’s lack of ‘history’ in the competition means they remain an ‘unknown’. The Gunners sailed through with a perfect record in the league phase (Picture: Getty) Arteta’s men will face Olympiakos, Dortmund, Leverkusen or Atalanta in the next round (Picture: Getty) But when rating the chances 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], both 30 per cent each,’ the ex-Watford captain explained on CBS Sports. ‘I think Arsenal have got the best team and the best squad but there’s that unknown, we’re not sure in the Champions League.
They’ve never won it in their history. ‘Manchester City have won it in their history, they are coming into a phase where it’s starting to fit right, they’ve got Gianluigi Donnarumma there, they won it last year, obviously they’ve got Erling Haaland for the goals… it feels a bit different. The former Watford striker is less confident about Chelsea and Newcastle’s hopes, though, giving the two teams a 10 per cent chance of lifting the trophy this year. ‘I’m always going to give Liverpool a chance because of the history that they’ve had as a club in this competition.
Newcastle swept aside Qarabag to book their place in the last 16 (Picture: Getty) ‘If Liverpool are to progress through, they could have the likes of Alexander Isak back on the bench. ‘I’m giving Chelsea 10 per cent just because they’ve won the Club World Cup, they won the Europa Conference League last year, they’ve got such a young and talented team. ‘I’m not sure on the Chelsea manager overall in these competitions because we haven’t seen him yet so I’ll give them a 10 per cent chance. ‘Very similar with Newcastle because of their ability to be strong, organised, so good from set-pieces and they get to tweak their team depending on who they play over the two legs.’ Spurs will face one of Atleti, Galatasaray or Juve in the last 16 (Picture: Getty) Thomas Frank oversaw an impressive group-stage campaign in charge of Tottenham, steering the club to five victories and just one defeat to secure a fourth-place finish. It’s not 0 per cent but it’s as close as it could be.’ PSG are the defending champions after finally ending their wait for the coveted prize last season (Picture: Getty) How to watch the Champions League draw on TV and live stream The draw for the next round of the Champions League takes place on Friday February 27 at 11am UK time.