Who can Chelsea, City and Arsenal face in the Champions League?

Jose Mourinho's side look set to make a Champions League run

The Champions League draw is later this morning but who could the English sides face?

Chelsea look ready to go deep as Manchester City and Arsenal need to learn from previous exits to overcome the first hurdle.

Chelsea eased through to the knockout phase - winning Group G with a match to spare - allowing manager Jose Mourinho to rest key players for the final game against Sporting.

The Blues can now look forward to the prospect of home advantage in the second leg of their last-16 tie but Mourinho is still concerned by the potential for his side to draw one of the 'sharks' lurking in the runners-up pot.

The good news for him is that Chelsea are most likely to face a Bayer Leverkusen squad without suspended centre-back Omer Toprack in the second round, but the second most probable opponent is Paris Saint-Germain.

Bet 10 Get 30 with Betfair Plus Money Back if you Lose

There is a 20 per cent chance that Chelsea will be pitted against the French champions in a repeat of last season's epic quarter-final clashes, which saw the Londoners squeeze through on the away-goals rule after overturning a 3-1 first-leg deficit.

Chelsea are a better all-round team now though and PSG have not hit their best form so far this season. As long as Mourinho avoids bad luck with injuries he should have enough to beat any possible second-round opponent, particularly with the second leg at Stamford Bridge.

Back on the home front, the Blues' Premier League lead has been whittled down from eight points to three in the space of a week by Manchester City and they know they are back in a two-horse race for the title.

But Chelsea can open up further breathing space at the end of January when the sides meet at Stamford Bridge - City without their colossal midfielder Yaya Toure because of the African Cup of Nations.

However, Toure's absence from City's two huge Champions League wins over Bayern Munich and Roma did not appear to adversely affect Manuel Pellegrini's men and, as long as they have Sergio Aguero fit and fully firing by the end of January, they will be in the hunt to retain their domestic crown.

But City's priority increasingly looks like being the Champions League with their highly-paid executives now praying for a kind draw in the last 16.

City's worst possible draw would appear to be Real Madrid because they cannot face either Chelsea or Bayern because of country and group protection - and they have a 14.5 per cent chance of travelling to the Bernabeu for the second leg.

The Citizens have roughly the same chance of being drawn to face Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Porto but are 24 per cent likely to face a familiar old foe in Borussia Dortmund.

City, in truth, could raise their game to beat any one of their possible opponents but will need to stop conceding goals at the Etihad Stadium.

City have not kept a clean sheet in their last 10 Champions League home games - during which time they have conceded 18 goals. And, while the Blues have won a couple of five-goal thrillers in that time, the away-goals rule can really hurt in the knockout stages.

Arsenal missed out on top spot in Group D on goal difference but Arsene Wenger's attitude is that you must beat the best to win the trophy - something he came closest to doing back in 2006.

In the eight seasons that have followed the Gunners have won seven of their 24 knockout round matches, progressing through four of their 12 ties and there is little to suggest that Wenger has learned much from those eight costly exits.

Worse for Arsenal - they have the greatest chance (24%) of now being paired with Bayern Munich, who have eliminated them in the last 16 for the past two seasons.

Wenger's men are already 13 points behind Chelsea in the Premier League so a domestic challenge looks unlikely, and they still lack depth in the squad in defence and defensive midfield to stop the best sides in Europe.