Arsenal gets tough draw, Manchester United faces Cluj in Europa League mock draw

Based on a simulation done by The Sun, Arsenal will square up against Sporting Lisbon from Portugal which looks like a tough draw while Manchester United Cluj from Romania. 

But first, see the full list of teams that have made it to the round of 32 pool and how they stand. The pool of teams have been placed in two pots based on UEFA co-efficient ranking. It is also noteworthy that the teams in Pot 1 will play away first placing them the advantage of playing the second leg at home. 

Pot one: 

Ajax, Arsenal, Basaksehir, Basel, Benfica, Braga, Celtic, Espanyol, Gent, Inter Milan, LASK, Malmo, Manchester United, Porto, Red Bull Salzburg, Sevilla

Pot two: 

Apoel Nicosia, AZ Alkmaar, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Bruges, Cluj, Copenhagen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Getafe, Ludogorets, Olympiakos, Rangers, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk. Sporting Lisbon, Wolfsburg, Wolves

This way no two teams in the same pot can match up, another exemption is that teams from the same country cannot clash at this stage of thecompetition. So Arsenal, Manchester United and Wolves cannot meet. 

From the aforesaid, Arsenal are left with the following teams to square up against:

Apoel Nicosia, AZ Alkmaar, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Bruges, Cluj, Copenhagen, Getafe, Ludogorets, Olympiakos, Rangers, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk. Sporting Lisbon, Wolfsburg. 

While Manchester United are poised to meet any of the following as well:

Apoel Nicosia, Bayer Leverkusen, Club Bruges, Cluj, Copenhagen, Eintracht Frankfurt, Getafe, Ludogorets, Olympiakos, Rangers, Roma, Shakhtar Donetsk. Sporting Lisbon, Wolfsburg

The full simulated draw as conducted by The Sun

Rangers vs Basel

Frankfurt vs Inter Milan

Roma vs Malmo 

Bayer Leverkusen vs Porto

Club Brugge vs Benfica 

Ludogorets vs RB Salzburg

Gent vs Olympiakos

AZ Alkmaar vs Espanyol

APOEL vs Ajax

Kobenhavn vs Sevilla

Shakhtar vs Braga

Wolfsburg vs Basaksehir

Wolves vs Celtic

Getafe vs LASK 

Sporting Lisbon vs Arsenal

Cluj vs Manchester United

If this plays out to be real eventually then Arsenal will be in for a serious headache as one will only hope they would have turned their situation around before February. Manchester will not have the same worries other than trying not to be complacent as the Romanian side can prove tricky, but in the end, all these are fantasy! 

The official Europa League draw will take place on Monday, 16 December at Nyon, Switzerland from 1:00 pm Nigerian time