British quartet hoping luck of the draw brings foreign opposition

The Premier League may have supplied an unprecedented four of the eight quarter-finalists in this season's Champions League but the quartet of English clubs appear united in their desire to avoid one another when the draw is made for the competition's latter stages in Nyon this lunchtime.

The system of seeding and country protection will be dropped when the pairings for the last eight and the semi-finals are made today but the Premier League contingent are hopeful that they can take on foreign opponents, with the possible exception of Barcelona, and target either Fenerbahce, Schalke 04 - who have scored only six goals in the competition this season - or the only remaining Italian representatives, Roma, instead.

"I would say that every English team, if they are honest, would prefer to play a foreign opponent," said Arsène Wenger, whose Arsenal team eliminated the holders, Milan, in the previous round and may yet be handed a contest with their former talisman, Thierry Henry, at Barça. "It becomes more of a domestic competition when you play a local team. Ideally you would want to play a foreign team, but if we have to overcome an English hurdle we'll do that as well."

Those sentiments will be shared by Liverpool and Chelsea in particular given the sides' recent explosive meetings in European competition. The clubs collided at the semi-final stages of the European Cup in 2005 and 2007, with the Merseysiders squeezing through on each occasion. Luis García's hugely controversial goal at Anfield settled the first tie en route to Liverpool winning the competition, and last year's rematch was decided by penalties, with little love lost between Rafael Benítez and the then Chelsea manager, Jose Mourinho, on either occasion.

"All four of the English teams are great sides who can pass the ball and mix and match it with any team in the world," said the Chelsea captain, John Terry. "Hopefully we can avoid them but, if we are drawn together, we'll have to beat them. We've missed out in this competition on a few occasions now and we want to make the final step and get our hands on the trophy."

Sir Alex Ferguson has been more bullish in his approach - "We'd relish the chance to face another English team in the quarter-finals," he said - with his confidence presumably born of the reality that his side have yet to lose to any of the other English Champions League contenders in domestic competition this season. Yet his players remain somewhat more wary.

Wayne Rooney would only like to meet another English side "further into the competition", and the United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who won this competition with Ajax in 1995, said: "I would prefer to play a European team because it's part of the Champions League experience. You go to the airport, you fly somewhere, you rest in the hotel, you train and you play in different surroundings in front of a hostile crowd. I would prefer that, but if we're drawn against an English side we'll deal with it."

Of the other contenders, Schalke squeezed through their qualifying group - drawing with Chelsea in Gelsenkirchen but losing at Stamford Bridge - and are fifth in the Bundesliga, 12 points off Bayern Munich at the summit. Fenerbahce, who include the former Brighton and Sheffield United winger Colin Kazim-Richards in their number, have never previously progressed this far in the competition.

Yet Roma are arguably the dark horses. The Italians trail Internazionale by six points in Serie A and would be considered more of a threat than last season, when United beat them 7-1 in the quarter-final second leg at Old Trafford. This season's group stage proved a tighter affair, with United winning 1-0 at home thanks to a Rooney goal and drawing 1-1 away.

Quarter-finalists

Arsenal

Manchester Utd

Chelsea

Liverpool

Barcelona

Fenerbahce

Roma

Schalke

Quarter- and semi-final draws take place today at noon