Arsene Wenger joked that the Premier League will have to let Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers join before they admit Barcelona to the competition.

The Catalan sports minister claimed the Spanish league leaders could join the Premier League if independence for the region led to their expulsion from La Liga.

Arsenal manager Wenger said he didn't think the situation had got "that far" but admitted it was interesting to see what would happen with such a "political" club.

"I will try to learn Catalan and if Barcelona wants to join the Premier League - it makes it even more difficult for everybody," said Wenger on Sunday. "[But] I don’t think they are as far as that.

"It’s an interesting because development, will have incidents on the sporting side as Barcelona is a highly political club.

Barcelona played behind closed doors on Sunday due to protests surrounding the region's referendum (
Image:
REUTERS)

"It is interesting to see how they respond in the championship. We have enough clubs here, 20, if you want to go up to 24, but before we have to welcome the Scottish before we go to the Spanish."

Wenger watched his side move level on points with Chelsea this weekend after they beat Brighton 2-0 at home thanks to goals from Alex Iwobi and Nacho Monreal.

Wenger made nine changes from the side that triumphed in Barysaw, and while he was far from satisfied with the performance against Brighton he was happy to reflect on the positive returns.

Arsenal beat Brighton on Sunday (
Image:
REX/Shutterstock)

He said: "We got the clean sheet, we got the three points. Offensively we were in a bit of a doubt, the fluency was sometimes there, sometimes not.

"In the end for us it was a very testing win. For us it was a very testing week, we had two home games, one long away trip in the Europa League. We won the three games and that's very positive."

Asked what he had learned most from his time in north London, he replied: "I would say humility."