Arsenal's dream Europa League scenario explored with…

Arsenal's dream Europa League scenario explored with Man United or Barcelona to be eliminated

The Europa League knockout play-off draw has been made and Arsenal have moved a step closer to discovering their opponents for the round of 16 stage.

Having topped their group, the Gunners have avoided this round as well as two extra games when the competition resumes in the new year. So Mikel Arteta's decision to name strong starting line-ups throughout have been vindicated. However, the Spaniard will still be interested to see which teams progress.

As per UEFA rules, Arsenal will be seeded for the round of 16 draw when that takes place on February 24, 2023 and that means they can only face one of the eight unseeded knockout round play-off winners. Although, they can't face PSV Eindhoven having been in the same group or Manchester United as they are from the same national association.

Now, the standout tie is without a shadow of a doubt Barcelona against Man United. The Catalan giants transferred to the Europa League after finishing third in their Champions League group whilst the Red Devils finished second behind Real Sociedad despite winning all but one of their six fixtures.

This can certainly work in Arsenal's favour as a strong contender to lift the trophy in May will be knocked out. At the moment, it's almost impossible to predict which exit would benefit Arteta and company more as so much can happen between now and February, not to mention the unknown quantity that is the impact of the winter World Cup.

Both clubs are blessed with enough attacking quality to go far in the competition. For example, Barcelona can call upon Robert Lewandowski, Ousmane Dembele, Ansu Fati, Raphinha and Memphis Depay just to name a few, whilst Arsenal already know what damage Marcus Rashford and Anthony can cause.

And it's for that reason that an early Man United exit would be the more favourable option of the two for the Gunners. After all, Arsenal know all too well the pain of losing to an English side in a Europa League final and they could exact a measure of revenge on Barcelona from the 2006 Champions League final.

Elsewhere in the draw, Jose Mourinho's Roma side face Red Bull Salzburg and there are some intriguing ties between Bayer Leverkusen vs AS Monaco and Sevilla vs PSV Eindhoven. It could be interesting if Shakhtar Donetsk progress as it remains to be seen what club Mykhailo Mudryk will be at amid links to Arsenal.

In a dream scenario for the Gunners, Juventus and Ajax would be beaten by Nantes and Union Berlin respectively as that would, well at least on paper, make the route to the final somewhat easier. However, as it's been six years since the north London outfit were last in the Champions League, they may want to test themselves against a regular in the competition.