Arsenal to face BATE Borisov and Cologne in Europa League group stage

Paul Pogba gets the award! Here he is looking happy/

Arsenal will face a couple of trips to eastern Europe, with visits to Belarus and Serbia on the cards. 

Everton, meanwhile, are in what is probably the most competitive group of them all, alongside Lyon, Atalanta and Limassol.

Here is the Europa League group stage draw in full: 

Group A: Villarreal, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Astana, Slavia Prague

Group B: Dynamo Kiev, Young Boys, Partizan, Skenderbeu

Group C: Braga, Ludogorets, Hoffenheim, Istanbul Basaksehir

Group D: AC Milan, Austria Vienna, Rijeka, AEK Athens

Group E: Lyon, Everton, Atalanta, Limassol

Group F: FC Copenhagen, Lokomotiv Moscow, FC Sheriff, Zlin

Group G: Viktoria Plzen, Steaua Bucharest, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, FC Lugano

Group H: Arsenal, BATE Borisov, Cologne, Red Star Belgrade

Group I: Salzburg, Marseille, Vitoria, Konyaspor

Group J: Athletic Bilbao, Hertha Berlin, Zorya, Ostersunds

Group K: Lazio, Nice, Zulte Waregem, Vitesse

Group L: Zenit, Real Sociedad, Rosenborg, Vardar Skopje

Group H is done: Arsenal, BATE Borisov, Cologne, Red Star Belgrade

And that's Group E complete: Lyon, Everton, Atalanta, Limassol

Some group, that: Viktoria Plzen, Steaua Bucharest, Hapoel Beer-Sheva, FC Lugano

Skenderbeu, of Albania, go into Group B. AEK Athens complete AC Milan's group.

First team out: Slavia Prague

It's the Lukas Podolski derby!

Shaping up nicely, Group E - any of those sides could win that group.

And will face AC Milan.

And the start of 'guess where this team is from'.

Everton get an exciting draw there. 

Marseille go in with Salzburg, Nice join Lazio, and Real Sociedad will play Zenit.

A tie that would have been a Champions League tie not so long ago...

AC Milan are drawn against Austria Vienna in Group D.

Salzburg, Athletic Club, Lazio and Zenit finish things off.

AC Milan go into Group D. Lyon, who will host the final, go into Group E. Copenhagen are in F. Viktoria Plzen of Czech Republic go into Group F. And Arsenal go into H!

Villarreal are first out and go into Group A. Dynamo Kiev go into B. Braga in C. Ooh, this is exciting.

48 clubs, 12 pots, 12 groups of four. Done.

Henrik Larsson is in the houuuuse! He is still the leading scorer in both competitions.

And he is joined on stage by Eric Abidal, who is an ambassador for the final, which will be held in Lyon, where he played.

Proceedings will begin in Monaco shortly (but there will be the usual rubbish before we actually see any balls being drawn out of big glass bowls).

Arsenal will probably just be hoping to avoid the long journeys - and there are a few really long potential trips in this season's draw. Everton will want the same, but their fans might actually be keen to draw AC Milan and enjoy a trip to the San Siro. Anyway, let's get on with this. Please...

Arsenal fans, you'll enjoy this trip down memory lane. My colleague Charlie Eccleshare is celebrating Dennis Bergkamp's wonderful hat-trick against Leicester, 20 years on.

He has spoken to Arsenal legends who played that day, among plenty of other people, and has produced this piece, which is well worth a read.

The countdown begins to the Europa League group stage draw, and in Arsenal we have one of Europe's biggest sides boosting the profile of Europe's second competition.

The group stage is a far stretch from the glitz and the glam of the Champions League, and Arsene Wenger surely won't take the first six matches too seriously.

But that said, this competition will represent a decent chance for silverware for Arsenal, and they are joint favourites to win it...

What is it?

The draw for this year's Europa League group stages.

When is it?

It takes place on Friday, August 25, at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.

What time does it happen?

12pm BST.

What TV channel is it on?

The draw is on BT Sport 1 or via live stream on Uefa.com. We will also have live updates on this page.

Who is in the draw?

There are four pots of 12 teams. One team from each pot will be drawn into each group, making up 12 groups of four. Here are the pots:

Pot 1:Arsenal, Zenit St Petersburg, Lyon, Dynamo Kiev, Villarreal, Athletic Bilbao, Lazio, AC Milan, Viktoria Plzen, Salzburg, FC Copenhagen, Braga

Pot 2: Steaua Bucharest, Ludogorets, BATE Borisov, Everton, Young Boys, Marseille, Real Sociedad, Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Lokomotiv Moscow, Austria Vienna, Hertha Berlin, Nice

Pot 3: Astana, Partizan Belgrade, Hoffenheim, Cologne, NK Rijeka, Vitoria Guimaraes, Atalanta, Zulte Waregem, Zorya Luhansk, Rosenborg, Sheriff Tiraspol, Hapoel Beer-Sheva

Pot 4: Apollon Limassol, Istanbul Basaksehir, Konyaspor, Vitesse Arnhem, Slavia Prague, Red Star Belgrade, Skenderbeu, FC Zlin, AEK Athens, FC Lugano, Vardar Skopje, Ostersunds

Which pots are the British teams in?

Arsenal are in Pot 1 as by far the highest-ranked team in the competition. Everton, after last night's aggregate victory over Hadjuk Split, go into Pot 2.

Who can Arsenal and Everton face?

Arsenalwill be drawn with one team from each of Pots 2, 3 and 4. 

That means they could face Marseille, Hoffenheim (who gave Liverpool a decent match in their Champions League qualifier) and AEK Athens, which is something resembling a Champions League group.

They could also end up in a group alongside Maccabi Tel-Aviv, Sheriff Tiraspol and Skenderbeu, which, well, sounds very much like a Europa League group.

Everton will have a tougher draw, and could face AC Milan, Villarreal or Lyon from Pot 1. They will then face one team from Pt 3 and one team from Pot 4.

When will the matches be played?

The group stage games will be split into six match days with games to be played on Thursday nights.

14 September

28 September

19 October

2 November

23 November

7 December

What are the odds (to win outright)?

AC Milan - 7/1 Arsenal - 7/1 Everton - 16/1 Athletic Bilbao - 16/1 Lyon - 20/1 Lazio 20/1 Villarreal 20/1 Marseille - 25/1 Real Sociedad 25/1