The composition of the pots for the Champions League group stage draw (which takes place today [Thursday] at 5pm UK time) has been finalised following Wednesday night's qualifiers.

There are some familiar team names and some ex-Chelsea personnel waiting as potential opponents.

For the second season running we are a top-seeded team, with our consistently good performances in this competition giving us the highest Uefa ranking score of all. Therefore we will be drawn against a team from each of Pots 2, 3 and 4.

Pot 1, which is our pot, contains all four English clubs plus Spanish giants Barcelona, and Real Madrid plus Lyon and Inter, none of whom we can draw - so there will be no early face-to-face with José Mourinho's new club, nor another chapter in the saga with Barça at this stage of the competition.

From Pot 2, we could face Juventus, now under the stewardship of former Chelsea manager Claudio Ranieri.

Recent Champions League opponents Bayern Munich, Werder Bremen and Porto could also be faced once more, opening the possibility of an early return to his former club for José Bosingwa.

The third-highest ranked team in Pot 3 is Marseille who we faced in our first Champions League campaign in '99/'00 and are Didier Drogba's former club.

Fenerbahçe are fresh in the memory from last year's quarter-final while Panathinaikos was the next destination for Henk ten Cate after last season spent at Stamford Bridge. He manages the Greek side.

Other possible opponents from the third set are Uefa Cup holders Zenit St. Petersburg and Scotland's sole representative Celtic.

From Pot 4 we are guaranteed new opponents. They could be Fiorentina with Adrian Mutu in attack but not if we have already drawn Juventus as no two clubs from the same country can be grouped together.

Unfamiliar names in Pot 4 include Cyprus side Anorthosis Famagusta who played Spurs in the Uefa Cup last season; Cluj, a side currently mid-table in the Romanian league; and BATE Borisov, Belarus league leaders and conquerors of Levski Sofia in the qualifiers.

The full draw composition is:

POT 1
Chelsea (ENG)
Manchester United (ENG)
Liverpool (ENG)
Barcelona (SPA)
Arsenal (ENG)
Lyon (FRA)
Internazionale Milano (ITA)
Real Madrid (ESP)

POT 2
Bayern Munich (GER)
PSV Eindhoven (NED)
Villarreal (ESP)
Roma (ITA)
Porto (POR)
Werder Bremen (GER)
Sporting Lisbon (POR)
Juventus (ITA)

POT 3
Marseille (FRA)
Zenit St. Petersburg (RUS)
Steaua Bucharest (ROU)
Panathinaikos (GRE)
Bordeaux (FRA)
Celtic (SCO)
Basel (SUI)
Fenerbahçe (TUR)

POT 4
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)
Fiorentina (ITA)
Atlético Madrid (ESP)
Dynamo Kiev (UKR)
Cluj (ROU)
Aalborg (DEN)
Anorthosis Famagusta (CYP)
BATE Borisov (BLR)

The group stage games will be played on 16/17 September, 30 September/1 October, 21/22 October, 4/5 November, 25/26 November, 9/10 December.

Sign up to Chelsea SMS alerts for news of the draw to your mobile.

Prior to the draw, bookmakers Paddy Power make Chelsea 11/2 favourites to win this season's Champions League.