When is the Europa League quarter-final draw?

Arsenal have safely secured their passage to the Europa League quarter-finals, but when will they find out who their next opponents will be and who should they be particularly wary of facing?

After beating AC Milan 2-0 at the San Siro in the first leg, Arsenal completed the job at the Emirates on Thursday night, running out comfortable 3-1 winners to reach their first quarter-final in European competition for eight years.

Tipped to go far in the competition from the outset, Arsenal will be buoyed by beating another hotly-tipped side in the last-16 but the job is far from done with some excellent teams remaining.

When is the draw?

The draw for the quarter-finals of the Europa League will be made at 12pm GMT on Friday, March 16, at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, directly after the Champions League quarter-final draw. You can follow it on Sky Sports News or skysports.com and the Sky Sports apps.

Are there any rules or restrictions?

There are no new rules at this stage in the competition. There is no 'country protection' rule to separate clubs from the same country playing against one another although somewhat unusually, all eight clubs remaining are drawn from eight different countries.

One rule that remains in force for Arsenal, though, is that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is ineligible to feature even though his former club Borussia Dortmund, are no longer in the competition. Aubameyang couldn't be registered for his new club in the competition as Dortmund dropped into the Europa League after failing to qualify from their Champions League group.

Who else is in the quarter-finals?

Atletico Madrid, RB Leipzig, Lazio, Sporting Lisbon, Marseille, Salzburg and CSKA Moscow are the other seven teams in the draw.

Who will Arsenal be hoping to avoid?

Champions League dropouts and two-time Europa League winners Atletico Madrid are the bookies' favourites and they demonstrated their credentials with a thumping 8-1 win over Russian league leaders Lokomotiv Moscow in the last-16.

Only Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Barcelona are ranked higher in UEFA's club coefficient table than Atletico Madrid, whose performances in continental competition since 2013-14 have been exceptional.

Marseille's impressive dismantling of Athletic Bilbao by an aggregate scoreline of 5-1 also caught the eye while RB Leipzig, who also started the season in the Champions League, will be one of the favourites.

Who would Arsenal fancy their chances against?

Salzburg are arguably the surprise package in the last eight but they should not be underestimated after successfully overcoming Borussia Dortmund 2-1 over two legs. CSKA Moscow also proved they are capable of an upset after beating Lyon on away goals with the French side especially desperate to reach the final on home soil.

Finally, when are the quarter-finals?

The first leg of the quarter-finals take place on April 5 with the return fixtures a week later on April 12.