This evening Chelsea will discover their Champions League fate in the group stage draw taking place is Istanbul from 5pm UK time.
Chelsea have qualified for Europe's top competition for four years running, and have shown under Thomas Tuchel their ability to seriously compete against the continent's best, winning the whole thing in 2021. But this year's group stage will bring unique challenges given the condensed schedule before the World Cup kicks off in November.
The group stage of the competition this year will start earlier and finish by the start of November, meaning consecutive midweek fixtures to ensure all the games are completed.
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Depending on the draw and distance needed to travel for away games in the group, Tuchel's path could be made a lot trickier with the potential of the likes of Dinamo Zagreb, Shakhtar and Maccabi Haifa all in pots that could be matched with Chelsea.
So, with this being said, football.london takes a look at the Champions League group stage fixtures that come directly after a Premier League match.
Matchday 1
The opening group game takes place quite soon, on September 6-7th. The game that leads into this clash is a home derby against West Ham on Sunday 4th at 2pm.
Matchday 2
As will be the case with the group this season, there will be few breaks as Chelsea face their second clash on either September 13-14th. The positive about the opening two games is that the Blues remain in London for their shortest trip to Craven Cottage against Fulham for a lunchtime kick-off on the 10th, with the following weekend seeing a 4.30pm mouth-watering encounter with Liverpool at the Bridge on the 18th.
Matchday 3
After the final international break before the World Cup, the third game is in the first week of October on the 4-5th with Crystal Palace away preceding it. The week ends at home to Wolves.
Matchday 4
The fourth, which will be the second of the middle double-header in the group comes a week later on October 11-12th. Chelsea go to Villa Park on the 16th in a Sunday 2pm game, likely leaving a decent gap between the previous Champions League test.
Matchday 5
The penultimate game of the group stage is on October 25-26th and here are where things get more intense. Manchester United at home precedes the midweek game on the 23rd at 4.30pm before a trip to Brighton on the 29th.
Matchday 6
The group ends on the 1-2 of November, not long before another big home clash, this time against Arsenal, currently set for the 5th but is likely to be moved for TV. It is also worth noting that after that game comes the Carabao Cup third round at Manchester City, with the final game before the break coming at St. James Park against Newcastle.
All listed fixtures can still change date.
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