Champions League draw: What are the best and worst case scenarios for Chelsea?

Who will Jose Mourinho be hoping to see come out of the hat?

Jose Mourinho oversees a Chelsea training session earlier in the week (PA via Chelsea FC)

Chelsea will go into Thursday’s Champions League draw hoping to go at least one better than they did last season, where they were dumped out at the semi-final stage by beaten finalists Atletico Madrid.

Jose Mourinho’s side are again among the top seeds owing to their stellar record in Europe over a number of years.

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Their placing in Pot 1 ensures they will avoid the very best teams – the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona – and English teams cannot be drawn together, ruling out Manchester City and Liverpool.

But there are still a couple of dangerous scenarios that the Blues will be keen to avoid.

Worst case scenario for Chelsea

Chelsea, Paris St-Germain, Ajax, Roma

Best case scenario for Chelsea

Chelsea, Basel, Sporting Lisbon, Maribor

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Pot 1 Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Benfica, Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Porto

Pot 2 Schalke 04, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Shakhtar Donetsk, Basel,Zenit Saint Petersburg, Manchester City

Pot 3 Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiacos, CSKA Moscow, Ajax, Liverpool, Sporting CP, Galatasaray, Athletic Bilbao

Pot 4 Anderlecht, Roma, APOEL, BATE Borisov, Ludogorets Razgrad, Maribor, Monaco, Malmo FF