2016 Champions League draw results: Spurs handed life in Group E

Tottenham Hotspur entered the Champions League draw fearing a potential matchup with two of Europe’s top teams. Instead, these members of Pot 3 have emerged as the favorites to win one of the only groups in the competition without one of the teams that’s considered a threat to win the competition.

However, there are no weak teams in Group E. All of these teams can be considered threats to get out of the group and perhaps pull off a knockout stage upset. Bayer Leverkusen are just about co-favorites with Spurs to finish on top, while Monaco and CSKA Moscow are no pushovers.

Coming off a surprise top-three finish in the Premier League, Spurs have lost none of their star players while adding a few new recruits to their already strong side. They were also one of the youngest teams in England last season, so presumably players like Dele Alli and Eric Dier will be even better with another year of experience. Spurs will be counting on them, as well as established young stars like Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen, as well as veterans Mousa Dembélé and Hugo Lloris.

Though they have a year of Champions League experience under their belt, Bayer is in roughly the same situation as Spurs. They have an exciting young team, an ambitious coach with an aggressive style, and they’re ready to take a step forward after a summer with minimal turnover. Christoph Kramer is gone, but Julian Baumgartlinger has arrived to replace him. They’ve also got an exciting new attacking option in Kevin Volland. If they can just get a little more consistency out of youngsters Julian Brandt and Jonathan Tah, they should progress.

Monaco is a perfectly decent team, coming off a perfectly decent season, but not one that looks like they’re on their way up. They were knocked out of the Europa League group stage last season, then held onto third place in Ligue 1 with just a plus-seven goal differential. Some veterans and loan stars have departed while some solid, but ultimately uninspiring players have arrived. They’ll need players like Thomas Lemar and Ivan Cavaleiro to improve significantly over last season to have a chance to progress.

CSKA Moscow finished last in their Champions League group last season. Since then, they’ve lost Ahmed Musa to Leicester City and haven’t made any impressive signings. Their squad looks like a thin one. They’re the Russian Premier League champions, so they’re clearly a decent team, but they return none of that league’s top 10 goal scorers.

With Son Heung-Min departing for Tottenham, last season was supposed to be a breakout one for Julian Brandt. It wasn’t exactly that -- he had some injuries and inconsistent performances -- but he still had some very bright moments, tallying 10 goals and six assists in all competitions. He was good at the Olympics for Germany, and should return to Bayer ready to have the best season of his career.

Because none of these teams are bad and none are great, expect the favorites to drop some points and the group to go down to the wire. Everything should still be on the line in the final match between Spurs and Bayer.