This season Chelsea and Arsenal were both included as top seeds in the draw for the group stages, with the current seedings based on teams' progress in the last five years of the competition.

However, from the 2015/16 season, the top eight seeded teams will be made up from the winners of the domestic leageus from England, Spain, Italy, Germany, France, Portugal and Russia, as well as the holder of the comeptition.

If however, the winner of the Champions League also wins their domestic title, then the eighth spot will be filled by the winner of the Dutch league, Uefa's next highest ranked league.

With Chelsea all but assured the Premier League title, the changes will not affect their seeding from previous seasons, but Arsenal and Manchester United, who would have been in the top seeding under the new rules, will now drop into the next pot.

Current Premier League champions Manchester City will feel particularly aggreived given they have won the title twice in three years, whilst their low coefficient ranking saw them given 'groups of death' in the Champions League, making it harder for them to progress.

Assuming City do qualify for the competition next season, they will again be facing the possibility of another difficult group.