Theo Walcott claims Arsenal have become the team to avoid in Monday’s draw for the Champions League round of 16 following the remarkable 3-0 victory against Olympiakos which saved Arsene Wenger’s team from the ignominy of the Europa League.

With Olivier Giroud scoring a hat-trick in Athens, Arsenal secured qualification as runners-up to Bayern Munich in Group F to extend the club’s record of progressing to the knock-out stages for a sixteenth successive campaign.

Monday’s draw will present the usual nightmare scenario of a tie against the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Atletico Madrid, combined with a potentially less hazardous pairing with Wolsburg or Zenit Saint Petersburg.

Arsenal have fallen short against the heavyweights of Barcelona and Bayern, as well as the comparative minnows of Monaco, in recent seasons, but Walcott believes the manner of victory in Athens will make Wenger’s team an unwanted opponent for even the biggest clubs on Monday.

“I’m sure none of them would like to play us after that result,” Walcott said. “It’s the Champions League, so whoever you get in the draw is going to be difficult because you’ve seen teams struggle when they should go through and should be winning.

“It doesn’t matter who we get, if we all contribute and play like that we did against Olympiakos, we can beat anyone on our day.

“If we get a few of our players back as well then our squad will be even stronger than it is now.”

Having been eliminated by Monaco last season, Arsenal’s reputation as serial chokers in the knock-out stages has become a burden which qualification enables them to overcome.

But Walcott admits that, having allowed complacency to set in against Monaco, the lessons will be learned if Arsenal are paired with Zenit or Wolfsburg – Manchester United’s conquerors in Germany on Tuesday.

“Whoever we end up playing, we must respect them,” Walcott said. “Monaco, obviously, we didn’t respect them at all.

“If we get the likes of Wolfsburg - we played them in the Emirates Cup - it will be a completely different ball game because they had a great result against Manchester United.

“But who knows until the draw is done?

“Avoiding the Europa League wasn’t in our mindset at all, though, against Olympiakos. We weren’t thinking about the Europa at the start of the game, we always felt we would go through, we believed we would win the game and stay in this competition.

“The Champions League is where we want to be and all the guys worked tremendously hard to make this happen.”

Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Show all 11 1 /11 Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Petr Cech 7 out of 10 Kept alert through extended periods with little or nothing to do; when he was called upon he was never found wanting. His save from Fortounis at 2-0 was vital in keeping the Gunners on top. Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Bellerin 5 out of 10 Another disappointing display from the Spaniard, who has not looked quite the same since returning from injury last month. His passing was loose and he struggled defensively with the pacey, tricky Seba, though he received next to no support from Walcott. 2015 Getty Images Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Mertesacker 6 out of 10 Struggled with the pace of Ideye early on, a difficulty he did not make any easier by strolling forward far too often. But an excellent diving tackle on the hour mark revitalized the German, who was then crucial in repelling Olympiakos crosses into the area. Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Koscielny 8 out of 10 Absolutely outstanding in the early period as his colleagues seemed determined to play into Olympiakos hands. On at least two occasions he cut out what would have been almost certain goals as he dived to clear crosses. 2015 Getty Images Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Monreal 7 out of 10 Became increasingly vital to Arsenal’s attacking play when Walcott switched to the left, and his crossing was far better than it has been for much of the season. That he combined this with solid defensive work capped a very good display. 2015 The Arsenal Football Club Plc Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Flamini 6 out of 10 Too often he was caught out of position when the hosts broke, chasing the ball rather than holding the defensive line. In the second half he was simply a passenger as those further forward took charge. 2015 Getty Images Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Ramsey 6 out of 10 Could not be blamed for his booking, coming as it did when Olympiakos were breaking with menace whenever Arsenal gave the ball away. Indeed Ramsey showed notable defensive skills in the first half, tackling well to stop goalscoring opportunities. 2015 The Arsenal Football Club Plc Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Walcott 6 out of 10 Unselfishly flitted around the frontline, looking for the best place in which to help his team-mates. But his hard work arguably let him down, as he seemed unable to establish an understanding with his team-mates. 2015 The Arsenal Football Club Plc Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Ozil 7 out of 10 It may not have been another assist for his burgeoning tally, but Ozil’s pass for Monreal in the build-up to the opener was the sort of incisive moment Wenger needed from his star man. With Olympiakos’ defence packed in front of him he was unlikely to get many chances to create, but he made what he did get count. 2015 The Arsenal Football Club Plc Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Campbell 8 out of 10 Another display to silence the doubters, and Campbell may now have overtaken Oxlade-Chamberlain in the pecking order. A brilliant reverse pass from the Costa Rican gave Giroud his second. 2015 Getty Images Arsenal player ratings vs Olympiakos Giroud 9 out of 10 A brilliant display from the striker, who dominated Da Costa and Siovas to give Arsenal a vital outball. His powerful header was too much for Roberto before he shrugged off what seemed a serious injury to make it two. He then secured the hat-trick he deserved from the spot. 2015 The Arsenal Football Club Plc

Arsenal’s victory in Greece, which came with the rare bonus of no further injuries to Wenger’s threadbare squad, will go down as one of the most memorable in the club’s recent history due to the high stakes involved and risk of demotion to the Europa League.

And Walcott claims that the inner-belief of the squad was key to securing the win, described by Wenger as the ‘greatest escape,’ which was required to overhaul Olympiakos to climb into second position in the group.

“We made it so difficult for ourselves and no-one really gave us any chance,” Walcott said. “But the attitude in that dressing room was fantastic.

“We knew what we had to do, we knew we had to score more than two goals, but we always felt that if we kept a clean sheet then we would win.

“The great thing with this game compared to Monaco last season was that we were very patient, with the build -up play.

“Even when we scored, we didn’t go all-out attack. We were calm and relaxed because there was plenty of time.