Yes we agree, it does look like we'll be facing Roma in the second group stage of this year's Champs League.

Arsenal will be in the second group of 4 made up from the 8 stage 1 group winners. As stated before, we'll therefore have to face one of the teams from the first group. That'll be one of the Spanish teams Real Madrid, Barcelona, or Valencia, because the 4th team in that group will be Man Utd and teams from the same country are kept apart (note that, for similar reasons, Man Utd will definitely play Deportivo).

But the other 3 teams making up the second group should be Juventus and the 2 Milan teams. So we can't be drawn against any of those 3, and they'll be placed one in each of the other 3 groups. Which leaves the 4th Italian team, AS Roma, forced into our group because they can't be drawn against another Italian side.

And because Roma are in our group, Real Madrid won't be (because they were in Roma's first stage group).

So it's

Arsenal
Valencia or Barcelona
AS Roma
one other

All we can say about the 4th team, at this stage, is that it could be anyone except Deportivo, Newcastle or Borussia Dortmund.

Note also that group winners atart the second phase with a home match (Nove 26th).

Rupe adds...
The above assumes that Man Utd win their group. If Leverkusen beat them 2-0 at Old Tartford tonight then Utd finish second and it all changes! But that's too much to hope for, surely?

Rupe adds...
...and so it proved. Re-calculating things after the final results, it looks to us like pot 4 will be Newcastle (congrats to them, hell of an achievement), Ajax, Lokomotiv, and Basel.

We can't be drawn with the Toon. And Ajax are twice as likely as the other 2 remaining possibilities because they wouldn't be excluded by the presence of either Barcelona or Valencia (whereas Lokomotiv and Basel were each in the same stage 1 group as one of those teams). So we're left with...

Arsenal
Barcelona or Valencia
AS Roma
Ajax (50%), Lokomotiv (25%), Basel (25%)

Thanks once again to the many people who've written in, especially to those who (we think) got it right!