Arsene Wenger has turned down Chelsea's Champions League challenge and insisted he does not want tomorrow's quarter-finals draw to throw up a 'Battle of Britain' with Arsenal's London rivals.
The Gunners booked their place in the last-eight of Europe's top club competition last night, easing to a slick 2-0 success against 10-man Celta Vigo at Highbury to clinch their 5-2 aggregate advance to the last eight.
Arsenal, gunning for the Treble, are joined in the hat by Chelsea, Real Madrid, Deportivo La Coruna, AC Milan, FC Porto, Lyon and Monaco.
Chelsea's John Terry yesterday bullishly insisted his team-mates would relish a capital crunch as the reward for their 1-0 aggregate victory over VfB Stuttgart. The centre-back claimed the Blues hope to meet Arsenal in the quarters so theycan gain revenge for three defeats against them this season.
But Wenger adopted a diplomatic stance when asked whether he fancied facing the side his men have not lost against during a 17-game sequence stretching back to 1998.
The Frenchman, who would surely be confident of a fourth victory this term if paired with Claudio Ranieri's side, said: "It is better two local clubs don't play each other as then it gives them both a fair chance to go through.
"We could have also had the chance to play Manchester United for a fourth time this season in the quarter-finals as I felt they were unlucky on Tuesday night.
"But now you have two French teams, an Italian one, a Portuguese one, two
from Spain and two from England."
Wenger's Treble dream is now a distinct possibility as Arsenal's advance in
Europe is allied to the domestic dominance which has sent them nine points clear
in the league and into the FA Cup semi-finals.