The immediate conclusion is that this is an extremely encouraging draw for Arsenal. If you were ranking the teams left in the tournament — as Anantaajith Raghuraman did prior to this morning’s draw — only two of the eight strongest (Arsenal and Barcelona) have ended up on that side of the bracket.
It is actually even kinder than that. In the last 16, Arsenal face Bayer Leverkusen, whom Anantaajith proposed as the weakest team left in the tournament. Win that and they will face a quarter-final against Sporting or the plucky underdogs of Bodo/Glimt, whom Anantaajith had at 12th and 13th in the rankings. It is hard to imagine a much gentler route to the semi-finals, where, in theory, a much stiffer test against Barcelona could await them.
The other side of the draw is so much tougher and, again, it could be to Arsenal’s benefit in the Premier League title race if Manchester City find themselves find embroiled in physically and emotionally demanding ties against Real Madrid and, theoretically, Bayern Munich in the quarter-final and Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea or Liverpool in a semi-final. The bookmakers’ odds on a first Arsenal Champions League triumph were shortened after the draw; perhaps the same could extend to their Premier League title odds too.