City have been handed a mouth-watering Carling Cup quarter-final at home to Arsenal, who have lost their last two Premier League visits to the City of Manchester Stadium.

The Gunners will have wished for a kinder draw - City's 3-0 victory last season was followed by a  4-2 thriller last month with sparkling goals from Craig Bellamy, Manu Adebayor and Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger traditionally plays his youngsters in the competition, which the Gunners last won in 1993, while Mark Hughes has committed his strongest line-up so far for the Blues, who beat Newcastle in the 1976 final.

City missed out on a possible derby or a tie against Hughes' old club Blackburn as former Arsenal and England midfielder Paul Merson drew our ball first with just two left in the bag.

Full draw - Blackburn v Chelsea, Man United v Tottenham, Portsmouth v Aston Villa, City v Arsenal. Ties to be played week beginning November 30. Watch mcfc.co.uk for ticket news.