Chelsea league form won’t be a factor against familiar opponents PSG

After failing to capitalise on a seemingly kind draw against Monaco at the same stage of the competition last season, Arsenal were handed a glamour tie against an all-firing Barcelona fronted by fearsome trio Messi, Neymar and Suarez.

“It’s a knockout game and it depends on the form of those teams over the two legs so I don’t think you can take league form into account”.

“I’m expecting two keenly contested, tactical matches during which PSG will have to pay attention to the way they develop their game against a team who – even if they’re convalescing – can show that they’re risky”.

Paris and London will be witnessing familiar battles in 2016 as Chelsea and PSG go head to head once again in UCL round of 16.

Barcelona playing Arsenal is a repeat of the 2006 final, which the Spanish champions won 2-1 thanks to two late goals in Paris.

The Gunners squeezed through the group stages, with an impressive win against Olympiacos in the final round of games sealing their progression. They did not start brightly in their league but they have recovered.

Barcelona have got a good record against us but they have also not played us in a few years and Arsene Wenger has made some big changes in that time and forged the Gunners into a much better and harder to beat unit. Arsenal fans will be praying that this year’s current crop of Gunners will be able to somehow prevent Barca’s potent attack.

Chelsea’s clash with PSG in the first leg takes place on Tuesday February 16 alongside Zenit’s trip to Benfica, while Roma host Real Madrid and Gent face Wolfsburg the following day.

Chelsea know their opponents well, having beaten PSG en route to the 2014 semi-finals but lost to them in March in a last-16 tie overshadowed by a racist incident involving fans on the Paris Metro. Arsenal will know that they will need to be nearly ideal to stand a chance of defeating the Blaugrana, with most of the Emirates Stadium faithful wishing they had landed alternative, more-manageable opposition such as Wolfsburg or Zenit St Petersburg. “It will be vital to get a good result away from home in the first leg so we can be more relaxed when we play them at home”.

This is the draw we wanted.

Manchester City, who like Chelsea topped their group, are set to meet Dynamo Kyiv. “We lacked in those departments last season, so we want to avoid repeating those mistakes”.

“We know what can happen if you have 10 poor minutes on a European night”. “If we see ourselves as favourites, things won’t go well for us”, said Real director Emilio Butragueno.