Champions League: Arsenal open vs. Atalanta; early PSG clash

Arsenal will begin their quest for their first Champions League title away at Atalanta on Sept. 19, UEFA confirmed in a fixture release on Saturday.

Their toughest match of the league phase arrives early as Mikel Arteta's side face Paris Saint-Germain at home in their second game on Oct. 1.

From there, Arsenal host Shakhtar Dontesk (Oct. 22) before travelling to the San Siro for a clash with Inter Milan (Nov. 6).

In their fifth game, Arsenal travel to Sporting CP on Nov. 26, followed by welcoming AS Monaco to the Emirates on Dec. 11, which will see a return of United States forward Folarin Balogun .

Arsenal's penultimate game will take place against at home against Dinamo Zagreb on Jan. 22, with the final match set for Jan. 29 featuring a trip to Girona .

The new group stage format sees an expanded 36 teams put into a single league table. Each team will play eight games before the knockouts -- two more than previous years -- with the final round of matches all taking place at the same time.

The top eight teams will progress directly to the round of 16. Teams finishing between ninth and 24th place will advance to a knockout play-off stage, while the bottom 12 teams will be eliminated.

Arsenal reached the quarterfinals in their return to the competition last season before being eliminated by familiar foes Bayern Munich . They defeated Porto in the round of 16 via some David Raya heroics in a penalty shootout.