On Tuesday evening, Arsenal take on European giants and last season’s UEFA Champions League winners Barcelona.
Gunners legend Charlie Nicholas, nervously predicted a 2-2 draw in the north London side’s round of 16 UEFA Champions League showdown with Barcelona.
Even though the game will be played at the Emirates, there’s no mistaking that Arsene Wenger’s side are the clear underdogs. Especially since they failed to beat Hull City, in their FA Cup fifth round match, drawing with the Championship side 0-0 last Saturday.
Barcelona’s lethal ‘MSN’ trio of Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar, will surely put Arsenal to the test. In his Sky Sports prediction column, Nicholas, anticipates that Arsenal will have to throw caution to the wind if they are to stand any chance.
They are probably the best three in the world. I include Cristiano Ronaldo in that and I genuinely think they’ll be the three competing for the Ballon d’Or next season, they’ve been that good.
You get to the stage where you wonder how on earth you even begin to plan to stop them. Do you put two holding midfielders in? Well that means you’re never going to attack and the one thing we know is that Barca do leak goals.
I think Arsenal know they need to take a risk and go for it. What would be a comfortable result to take to the Camp Nou? Is 3-0 even enough to make them favourites to go through?
If Arsenal hope to replicate their 2011 triumph against Barcelona, Nicholas says that Olivier Giroud, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Petr Cech will have to be in top form.
YouTube: Arshavin vs Barcelona Martin tyler commentary (No effects or songs)
Olivier Giroud has to have a right go at Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano, Alexis Sanchez will be up for playing his old club and it’s another chance for Mesut Ozil to show he can shine among the stars. However, it’s Petr Cech that I’m really hoping will show just how important he is.
Matches like these are the reason the former Chelsea stalwart was brought to the Emirates. As it turns out, Cech has faced five time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi ,on eight occasions and has not conceded a goal against the Argentinian magician.
However, even if Cech is able to keep Messi off the score sheet, Suarez and Neymar will be lurking as well.
In all fairness, a draw for Arsenal would be more than a moral victory. The Gunners have risen to the occasion during the competition, when they found a way to beat Bayern Munich 2-0 in October.
That win propelled them to this stage and they will have to summon that resolve if they hope to muster a favourable result on Tuesday evening.
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