Ok here we go, it's finally time for the draw!

There are 48 teams will be in the hat for the group stage of the Europa League, which splits into 12 different groups.

No team can play drawn in the same group as a club from their own association.

And the group stage concludes on 12 December.

Welcome to Thursday evening football.

Ashley Cole and now Paulo Ferreira are up on stage. It's like a ex Chelsea full-backs convention.....

There could only be one winner couldn't there....

Perhaps his two goals in last season's final for Chelsea during their 4-1 win over Arsenal sealed the deal.

Before the draw gets going in earnest we've got a bit of housekeeping from last season with Olivier Giroud, Eden Hazard and Luka Jovic in the mix for the 2018-19 Uefa Europa League Player of the Season award.

Right over we go to the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco, for the Europa League draw....

Image source, Getty Images

Hello again.

The next tranche of Premier League news conferences are just about to get under way and we should be hearing from Frank Lampard, Jurgen Klopp, Mauricio Pochettino and Pep Guardiola over the next hour or two.

But first we've got the Europa League draw on its way with Arsenal, Manchester United, Wolves and Rangers and Celtic awaiting news of their opponents in the group stage of the competition.

Right that's me done and dusted for now. I'm heading for a mid-morning snack before returning a little later, to look at the with the rest of the Premier League news conferences and Europa League draw (12:00 BST).

In the meantime I'll leave you with some of this morning's top content to look at:

• Smalling in Italy to seal Roma loan move
• Back in Europe for the first time since 1980 - can Wolves win the Europa League
• Ronaldo invites Messi to dinner as Cantona quotes Shakespeare
• Newcastle's Ritchie faces two months out

Thanks for joining me and see you soon.

Newcastle United

Pointing out the obvious maybe but if Newcastle were to lose to Watford this weekend it would be their third defeat of the season.

Impeccable timing for those last Steve Bruce comments, who finishes up by adding: "We've got a really difficult game. If we can get a positive result tomorrow, it'll have been a decent start.

"Let's hope we can pull it off - back-to-back wins are crucial in the Premier League in my experience."

Newcastle United

Image source, Getty Images

Now jumping back up to the north east and a little bit more from Newcastle manager Steve Bruce:

"Joelinton, [Miguel] Almiron and [Jamaal] Lascelles will hopefully come through training today and be OK.

"We don’t know about [Emil] Krafth or [Jetro] Willems yet - we’ll see how they are. In the last 48 hours we've concentrated on Watford and they've got a very, very good team.

"They've had a bad start but anyone can lose three games in the Premier League."

Manchester United

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has also unsurprisingly been quizzed about Alexis Sanchez's loan move to Inter Milan:

He said: "I think Alexis needed to go.

"At the moment we know he has been here for 18 months and it's not really worked out for him.

"For him as well to restart and get himself playing regularly, getting himself scoring goals, that loan will only benefit everyone in the end.

"We're going to watch every weekend now to see Romelu (Lukaku) and Alexis playing together. We had a decision to make and I'm trusting Anthony [Martial], Marcus [Rashford] and Mason [Greenwood] to be our centre forwards."

Manchester United

Image source, Getty Images

The Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has also been asked about the possibility of Zlatan Ibrahimovic returning to the club after the forward hinted he'd be open to a return....Seriously?

"Well, if he was 28 and not 38 next month it's a big difference. But Zlatan has had a great time here and of course he's still doing well. He was just unfortunate that he got his injury when he got it here," Solskjaer said.

"He never rented my house but he was looking at it and we can speak a native language. If he's serious, I'll always speak to Zlatan.

Asked on whether he'd seriously consider him coming back: "I don't think that'll happen, no. He's had a fantastic career and I wouldn't expect him to be serious either when he said that."

Manchester United

Image source, Getty Images

More from Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer: "I can see maybe Matteo (leaving).

"There has been some interest in Matteo [Darmian] over in Italy, wanting to go back home.

"Marcos [Rojo], he's staying definitely. We've got a squad now that's less in numbers, but still big enough and strong enough to have coverage in all positions."

Manchester United

Here's some more on that news that Chris Smalling is off to Rome.

Harry Maguire's record-breaking acquisition this summer means that 29-year-old has been allowed to leave on loan, reducing United's centre-back count to six.

"It's just come up the last couple of days, this opportunity for Chris," said manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

"With six fit centre-backs I couldn't guarantee Chris first-team football. There are not many English players who have had chance to play in Italy. Hopefully he comes back better for it."

Manchester United

The breaking news coming out of Carrington this morning is that Manchester United defender Chris Smalling is on his way to Italy to finalise a loan move to Roma.

Image source, Getty Images

Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is incoming....

Image source, BBC Sport

Newcastle United

Newcastle manager Steve Bruce sounds a little glum this morning as he opens up by speaking about injuries and in particular, Matt Ritchie.

The winger who has started all three of their Premier League games so far this season,went off with an ankle injury during their Carabao Cup defeat to Leicester after a heavy challenge by Foxes midfielder Hamza Choudhury.

"Matt Ritchie is going to miss the next couple of months, unfortunately," Bruce said.

"He’s suffered ligament damage and ankle joint damage. I said at the time, when he couldn’t point his foot down, we suspected it was going to be a nasty one.

"We’ve been dealt a tough blow (with injuries). Dwight Gayle is still nowhere near ready, which is a frustration for us all. The other night, we were down to the bare bones. But, it’s football - we can’t make excuses.

Now let's hear what Newcastle manager Steve Bruce has to say....

Bournemouth

Now the Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe seems a little nonplussed about Cherries keeper Artur Boruc being at Ibrox last night.

The former Celtic keeper was spotted with a megaphone in with the Polish supporters as Legia Warsaw (another of his former clubs) lost to Rangers in the Europa League.

And Howe called it "far from ideal" and said he'd be "speaking" to the keeper with his team due to play at Leicester on Saturday.

Image source, @WSCsupporters

Bournemouth

More from Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe: "Leicester are a vastly improved team, Brendan deserves great credit. They're very confident in their skin, we go there knowing it's going to be a big game.

"We don't have anyone coming back from injury for the game. It's difficult to say when Lewis (Cook) and Simon (Francis) will be back."