The Last 16 round of the Champions League kicks off next week with only two teams from the English Premier League still in contention – London teams Arsenal and Chelsea.
Chelsea play Napoli in the first leg in Italy on Tuesday and Arsenal face Milan at the San Siro on Wednesday.
Four of the Last 16 ties will be played next week with the remaining quartet set for the week after.
After winning their group, Arsenal and Chelsea have the advantage of playing the second leg at home in this round.
Last season, four English clubs reached the knock-out stage of the Champions League. Manchester United eventually advanced to the final but lost 3-1 to Barcelona at Wembley. This year, United and Manchester City were demoted to the Europa League after failing to secure a top-two finish in the group phase.
Club best scorers throughout the group phase:
3 goals − Van Persie (Arsenal); Drogba (Chelsea); Yaya Toure (Man. City); Rooney (Manchester United).
2 goals − Torres, Ramires (Chelsea); Balotelli (Man. City); Welbeck (Man. United).
1 goal − Oxlade-Chamberlain, Benayoun, Santos, Ramsey (Ar-senal); Lampard, Mata, Luiz, Meireless, Ivanovic, Kalou (Chelsea); Aguero, Silva, Kolarov (Manchester City); Young, Giggs, Fletcher, Berbatov, Valencia, Jones (Manchester United).
This season, Napoli left their best for the cup competitions.
To reach the last 16 in Europe, they outsmarted City in Group H and finished two points behind winners Bayern Munich.
The Italians held Man. City to a 1-1 draw at Eastlands and won the home tie 2-1. Napoli’s only loss was away to Bayern.
They scored 10 goals as forward pairing of Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi became one of the most feared on the continent.
Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas admitted his team had a difficult draw.
“Napoli is a club that represents the city and the city has great empathy with the team,” he said.
“Napoli have a tremendous fan base. Ours is one of the most difficult and exciting games of the last 16, no doubt about it.
“They are a side that works collectively and Walter Mazzarri has always been a coach that organises his teams very well.”
In Group A, Milan finished seven points behind holders Barcelona. The Rossoneri won only two of their pool games and haven’t won on the road in Europe this season. Milan scored 11 goals and let in eight.
On the prospect of facing Milan, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger was quoted as saying: “It is a difficult draw but an exciting one. And, I suppose, they could say exactly the same thing.
“Ideally, it is a draw for one round later but you take them when they happen.”
First clash
Although they have faced many an Italian side in European com-petitions before, this will be Chelsea’s first ever meeting with Napoli.
On the away front, the Londoners won only once in Italy on the continent, thus:
1965-66 Fairs Cup first round: Roma 0-0.
1965-66 Fairs Cup third round: Milan 1-2.
1997-98 Cup Winners’ Cup semi-final: Vicenza 0-1.
1999-00 Champions League group match: Milan 1-1.
1999-00 Champions League phase two group match: Lazio 0-0.
2003-04 Champions League group match: Lazio 4-0.
2008-09 Champions League group match: Roma 1-3.
2008-09 Champions League round two: Juventus 2-2.
2009-10 Champions League round two: Inter 1-2.
Arsenal and Milan met once in the same competition in season 2007-08 and also in the same round.
After a 0-0 draw at the Emirates Stadium, the Gunners shocked their illustrious opponents with two goals in the last six minutes (Fabregas, Adebayor) at the San Siro to secure their place in the next round.
In addition to this excellent result against Milan, the north London team lost only three times in 13 confrontations away to Ita-lian teams.
Their positive record includes remarkable wins at Juventus (1-0 semi-final Cup Winners’ Cup); Roma (3-1 group phase of the Champions League); Inter (5-1 group phase of the Champions League); and Udinese (2-1 play-off of the Champions League).
The losses came at Sampdoria (2-3 semi-final Cup Winners’ Cup); Juventus (0-1 group phase of the Champions League); and Roma (0-1 second round of the Champions League).