Sheffield United had just been drawn away to Arsene Wenger's side in the third round of the Carling Cup later this month, but manager Kevin Blackwell was determined it would not distract attention from their Championship match against Cardiff City, which ended goalless.

"I made sure the staff did not say anything to the players beforehand," said Blackwell.

"Of course they knew what the draw was, but I did not want anybody talking about it. The game against Cardiff was the most important thing and when we come back after the international break it will all be about Derby County.

"We will deal with the cup tie when it comes. We had to scrap a result at Huddersfield and now we have a glamour tie against Arsenal as our reward. We will only talk about Arsenal in the week of the tie and I'm sure Arsene will do the same."

The Blades, who lost 3-0 at home to Arsenal in the same competition last season, travel to the Emirates on the week commencing September 21.

Rotherham United have been drawn at home to Southampton, Leeds United entertain Hartlepool and Middlesbrough head to Manchester United.

Full draw: Arsenal v Sheff Utd, Brighton or Man City v Derby, Burnley v Fulham, Portsmouth v Chelsea, Blackburn v Everton, Rotherham U v Southampton, Swansea v Cardiff, Ipswich v Wigan, Stoke v Reading, Leeds U v Hartlepool, Watford v West, Ham Man Utd v Middlesbrough, Liverpool v Crewe, Aston Villa v QPR, Sunderland v Northampton, Newcastle v Tottenham.

Ties to be played week commencing Sep 22.