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With Everton safely through to the knockout stages of the Europa League, attention now turns to the last-32 draw in Switzerland on Monday.
As Group H winners Everton will be seeded for the draw, along with the other seven group winners and the four Champions League drop outs with the best group record.
Another benefit of winning the group is that Everton will play the away leg first on February 19, with the return game at Goodison a week later. No team can play a side from their original group or country in the round of 32 – meaning we cannot play Tottenham, Liverpool or Wolfsburg.
Whoever we draw the tie will be a difficult opponent, but there may be certain teams we would want to avoid at this early stage. Certainly the Champions League dropouts – Roma, Ajax and Anderlecht – would provide two great matches (and away days) but would be a significant challenge to overcome. Villarreal would also be many people’s pick after the controversy in 2005 when referee Pierluigi Collina wrongly disallowed a Duncan Ferguson goal in the second leg of a Champions League play-off that would have taken the game to extra time. The Blues instead would go on and lose 4-2 on aggregate.
Blues looking to book a European away trip may want the team to avoid Dnipro and Trabzonspor. While the small stadiums of Aalborg and Guingamp would prevent thousands of fans the chance to watch the game. A short trip up to Glasgow to play Celtic though would probably go down well.
Europa League schedule
Round of 16: Draw 27 February, matches 12 & 19 March
Quarter-finals: Draw 20 March, matches 16 & 23 April
Semi-finals: Draw 24 April, matches 7 & 14 May
Final: Wednesday 27 May, National Stadium Warsaw
Seeded teams
Borussia Mönchengladbach
Club Brugge
Beşiktaş
FC Salzburg
Dinamo Moscow
Inter Milan
Feyenoord
Everton FC
Napoli
Dynamo Kiev
Fiorentina
Legia Warsaw
Olympiacos
Sporting Clube de Portugal
Athletic Club
Zenit St Petersburg
Unseeded teams (potential Everton opponents)
Dnipro
Manager: Myron Markevych
League finish last year: 1st
Ground and capacity: Dnipro-Arena, 31,003
How they have fared in Europe this year: Lost to FC Copenhagen in the third qualifying round of the Champions League before finishing second in Europa League Group F behind Inter Milan.
Sevilla
Manager: Unai Emery
League finish last year: 5th and Europa League winners
Ground and capacity: Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán, 45,500
How they have fared in Europe this year: Second in Group G, a point behind Dutch side Feyenoord.
Young Boys
Manager: Uli Forte
League finish last year 3rd
Ground and capacity Stade de Suisse, 32,000
How they have fared in Europe this year: Began in the third qualifying round back in July, eventually finishing behind Napoli in Group I
Aalborg
Manager: Kent Nielsen
League finish last year: 1st
Ground and capacity Nordjyske Arena, 13,800
How they have fared in Europe this year: lost to APOEL in the Champions League play-off round before finishing six points behind Dynamo Kiev in Group J
Guingamp
Manager: Jocelyn Gourvennec
League finish last year: 16th – qualified for Europe by winning the coup de France
Ground and capacity: Stade du Roudourou, 18,126
How they have fared in Europe this year: In the Europa League group stages for the first time, they finished second behind Fiorentina in Group K.
Trabzonspor
Manager: Ersun Yanal
League finish last year: 4th
Ground and capacity: Hüseyin Avni Aker, 29,461
How they have fared in Europe this year: Beat Rostov in the qualifying round before finishing second in Group L behind Legia, level on points with Lokeren but going through courtesy of a better head to head record.
Anderlecht
Manager: Besnik Hasi
League finish last year: 1st
Ground and capacity: Constant Vanden Stock Stadium, 28,063 (21,845 for European matches)
How they have fared in Europe this year: Finished third in Group D behind Arsenal and Dortmund with just six points.
Roma
Manager - Rudi Garcia
League finish last year - 2nd
Ground & capacity - Stadio Olimpico - 70,634
How they have fared in Europe so far: Finished third in Group E behind Bayern Munich and Manchester City. A win at home against City on the last day of the Group Stage would have secured them a spot in the CL last 16, but a 2-0 loss relegated them to the Europa League
Ajax
Manager - Frank de Boer
League finish last year - 1st
ground & capacity - Amsterdam Arena - 53,052
How they have fared in Europe so far - Finished third in Group F behind Barcelona and PSG. The Dutch giants picked up only five points in the Group Stage, with their only win against the Cyprians APOEL FC.
Villarreal CF
Manager: Marcelino Garcia Toral
League finish last year: 6th
Ground and capacity: El Madrigal, 24,890
How they have fared in Europe this year: Second in Group A, one point behind Borussia Moenchengladbach
Torino FC
Manager: Giampiero Vetura
League finish last year: 7th
Ground and capacity: Stadio Olympico, 28,140
How they have fared in Europe this year: Second in Group B a point behind Club Brugge
Celtic
Manager: Ronny Delia
League finish last year: 1st
Ground and capacity: Celtic Park, 60,355
How they have fared in Europe this year: Lost to Maribor in Champions League play-off before going on to finish second in Group D on eight points, eight points behind winners Salzburg.
PSV Eindhoven
Manager: Phillip Cocu
League finish last season: 4th
Ground and capacity: Phillips Stadion, 36,000
How they have fared in Europe this year: Second in Group E behind Dinamo Moscow with eight points from their six games.