Champions League: It's a kind draw at last for Arsenal

Could another tricky year for Arsene Wenger have a cheery end?

There was much better news for Arsenal than Chelsea and Man City in the Champions League round-of-16 draw...

After being paired exclusively with teams boasting at least four Champions League titles in each of the past four campaigns, Arsenal have finally been given a serious chance of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time since 2009/10.

The Gunners could have been dealt holders Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona or Atletico Madrid, but swerved the lot to be tasked with toppling Monaco.

The French club, who Arsene Wenger managed over 20 years ago, won one of the weaker first-round quartets at the expense of Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit St Petersburg and Benfica, but are sixth in Ligue 1, seven points off the Champions League qualifying pace already.

It is considered such a great draw for Arsenal that they have been backed in from 36.0 to 28.027/1 to win this season's competition. Monaco are the fourth biggest outsiders at 220.0219/1.

By contrast, Chelsea's "reward" for topping Group G by six points, and with a tally (14) bettered by only three teams, was a double header against stronger Ligue 1 opponents, the Paris St-Germain side who troubled them in last term's quarter-finals.

Few would dispute that they were the toughest unseeded club who the Blues could have met, and the result has been a noticeable drift in the Champions League winner market from 7.4 to 9.417/2.

Third favourites Barcelona have drifted as well, from 6.0 to 7.413/2, because of their impending clash with the tournament's grim-draw magnets Man City. It is the second year in a row that they will collide at this stage, and Manuel Pellegrini's men are out from 14.5 to 17.016/1.

Bayern Munich and Real Madrid's status as the top two in the betting has been consolidated by being granted high-scoring Shakhtar Donetsk and inconsistent Schalke respectively. Having been 4.1 and 4.3 before the separation of balls and bags, they are now 3.7511/4 and 3.9n/a.

Perhaps the most enticing tie without any Premier League participants is Juventus v Borussia Dortmund, while 2013/14 finalists will be facing Bayer Leverkusen. Liverpool were given further reason to grieve their exit as their conquerors FC Basel were handed Porto.

All eight round-of-16 encounters last season were won by the side who hosted the second leg.

Full round-of-16 draw:
Paris St-Germain v Chelsea
Man City v Barcelona
Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid
Juventus v Borussia Dortmund
Schalke v Real Madrid
Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich
Arsenal v Monaco
FC Basel v Porto