Autumn maybe drawing in but the football season is only just heating up ahead of the return of the Champions League nights in midweek.
But before Europe finest teams can clash, they first need to know who they could be playing with the draw for the group stage set to take place on Thursday.
Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur all feature but who should they dream of facing and who is best to avoid? Sportsmail looks at their potential dream and nightmare opponents.
Manchester City
As Premier League champions, Manchester City have the luxury of being in pot one and avoiding all the domestic champions from Europe’s biggest leagues, including Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain – as well as holders Real Madrid.
It also means they will evade their Premier League rivals, paving the way for a relatively comfortable draw. However, there are still pitfalls for Pep Guardiola’s men.
Manchester City are among the top seeds after winning the Premier League last season
City were knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League last term by Liverpool
For instance Inter Milan lurk in the lowest pot, but should they draw the 2010 winners, they will then avoid having to face either Napoli or Roma. Never has being in pot one looked so promising for an English club.
Dream draw: Porto, CSKA Moscow, AEK Athens
Nightmare draw: Borussia Dortmund, Valencia, Inter Milan
Manchester United
It doesn’t seem to matter who Manchester United face at this point, a poor start to the season means just about any club could cause them a nightmare draw.
But form has to pick up at some point and like the rest of their Premier League rivals (except City) they will be keen to go into the group stage draw as favourites to progress.
Manchester United have struggled at the start of this season under Jose Mourinho
The Red Devils were eliminated in the last-16 last term following a surprise defeat by Sevilla
This is not a given due to the sharks circling in pot one and there are still hazards lurking in pots three and four.
Dream draw: Lokomotiv Moscow, Ajax, AEK Athens
Nightmare draw: Real Madrid, Schalke, Inter Milan.
Tottenham Hotspur
Spurs proved last season that having a group of death is no bad thing as they eased to top spot in a group featuring Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund.
Would they fancy that again though? Well it is not possible as they are in the same pot as the German side but the European holders do lurk for Mauricio Pochettino’s side.
Tottenham will hope Lucas Moura can play a major role in Europe after impressing following his positive form at the start of the Premier League campaign
Spurs topped their group last term but were dumped out by clinical Juventus in the next round
But there are ghosts from past Champions League campaigns for Spurs, with Inter Milan, Monaco and even the Young Boys all having troubled them in the last decade to varying degrees.
Dream draw: Lokomotiv Moscow, Ajax, AEK Athens
Nightmare draw: Real Madrid, Monaco, Inter Milan.
Liverpool
Champions League finalists last year but defeat by Real Madrid in Kiev means Jurgen Klopp’s men are open to facing the European champions again in the group stage.
With so many big hitters in pot one, Liverpool, like United and Spurs, will be hoping to draw Lokomotiv Moscow from the top seeds, with the Russian side, on paper at least, the weakest among the supposed big hitters.
Mohamed Salah will hope to feature as Liverpool aim to go one better in Europe this year
The Reds suffered an agonising defeat by Real Madrid in this year’s Champions League final
Liverpool may have dropped into pot three at the last moment following Benfica’s qualification, but they would be more than happy facing Porto again – who they thrashed 5-0 away from home in the last-16 last term.
Dream draw: Lokomotiv Moscow, Porto, AEK Athens
Nightmare draw: Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan.
How does the Champions League draw work?
The 32 teams will be drawn into eight groups consisting of four teams. All eight groups will feature a team from each of the pots.
How are pots determined?
Pot 1 – will consist of Champions League and Europa League winners plus the title winners of the top six leagues
Pot 2,3, 4 – the remaining 24 teams are seeded based on their UEFA coefficient as of the end of the 2017-18 season.
No team can play a club from the same country in the group stages.
When is the draw?
The Champions League group stage draw will take place on Thursday 30th August from the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco.
What time is the Champions League draw?
The group stage draw will be held at 5pm (BST).
Real Madrid are the holders of the Champions League trophy having won it the last three years
How can I watch?
You can stream live on the UEFA website or watch on BT Sport 2 (4:30pm to 6:45pm BST).
When does the Champions League group stage start?
Group stages of Champions League tournament kick off on 18 September and the last of matches will conclude on 12 December.
Fixture dates:
18-19 September: Group stage, matchday one
2-3 October: Group stage, matchday two
23-24 October: Group stage, matchday three
6-7 November: Group stage, matchday four
27-28 November: Group stage, matchday five
11-12 December: Group stage, matchday six
The top two teams from each of the 12 groups will progress to knockout rounds in February 2019.