London Colney, England, Mar 13: Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal players not to be distracted by a sequence of six games starting later this month that he describes as 'the hardest'' he has faced as Highbury Boss. Arsenal play Manchester United in the Premier League and FA Cup semi-finals, Chelsea twice in the Champions League quarter-finals and then Liverpool and Newcastle, all in the space of 20 days starting on March 24.

Wenger, though, knows that the league leaders' trip to Blackburn Rovers on Saturday and the subsequent home game against Bolton are just as important as those high-profile matches.

''We have a very tough schedule ahead which is probably the hardest run of games we have ever faced since I arrived here in 1996,'' the Frenchman told reporters at the Arsenal training ground yesterday.
Bureau Report