ARSENAL could face a nightmare draw in the next round of the Champions League despite being on track to finish in the top four of the new-look league phase.
The Gunners have looked strong in the Champions League this season and all-but guaranteed their spot in the top eight with a 3-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb on Wednesday.
The new league phase means that the teams that finish in the top eight avoid playing in a play-off game to reach the Last-16 that teams placed between ninth and 24th must compete in.
Arsenal should finish in the top eight barring a disaster, and are projected to finish either third of fourth by beating Spanish outfit Girona in their final game of the league phase next week.
However, they may not be rewarded as much as they'd like for their efforts.
A supercomputer has predicted where every team will finish in the league phase and it makes grim reading for the Gunners' when it comes to their seeded opponent in the next round.
Despite being on course for a nice break from European football by avoiding the play-offs, Arsenal are in line to take on one of four European giants in the last 16 proper.
A third or fourth placed finish would see them face one of the teams that finishes 13th, 14th, 19th or 20th in the league phase when they play their last 16 clash.
According to the Football Rankings' supercomputer, those four teams are most likely to be Sporting Lisbon, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
Two of the four European heavyweights will have to do battle themselves in a play-off to book their spot against the Gunners.
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But should the league phase end as predicted then it would leave Arsenal with a really tricky tie.
Each of Sporting and PSG would face one of Real Madrid and Juventus in the play-off round, according to the projection.
Afterwards, each winner would face one of Arsenal or Inter Milan in the last 16 phase, under the complicated new system.
That said, Arsenal will take confidence from the fact that they have already got the better of both PSG (2-0) and Sporting (5-1) in the league phase this season.
Juventus and Real Madrid would be a different story for Mikel Arteta's side with the Gunners' not facing either club since their 2006 Champions League campaign.
Of course, it's all hypothetical and depends on what results actually come to fruition when all 36 Champions League teams face off at the same time next Wednesday.
But Arteta will be confident that his team are in a good position to give any opposition a game, having won five of their seven games in the Champions League this term and not conceded a single goal from open play in the competition.
