Pain in the Arsenal
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Arsenal’s Predicted Starters To Face Barcelona

By Nasra Osman

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 08: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona (L) duels for the ball against Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Barcelona and Arsenal at the Camp Nou stadium on March 8, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona won 3-1. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 08: Lionel Messi of FC Barcelona (L) duels for the ball against Tomas Rosicky of Arsenal during the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg match between Barcelona and Arsenal at the Camp Nou stadium on March 8, 2011 in Barcelona, Spain. Barcelona won 3-1. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /
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Arsenal face a battle to progress to the last eight in the Champions League when they face Barcelona at the Emirates on Tuesday. Can this team pull off the win?

Words cannot describe the enormity of the task that awaits Arsenal on Tuesday night, but for the sake of this article, I’m going to try. Barcelona is probably the only team left in the Champions League that Arsenal wouldn’t want to have drawn, and yet, here we are. Arsene Wenger’s men will face arguably the most lethal attack in the world at the moment.

Related Story: Olivier Giroud Can Define Himself Against Barcelona

Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar are a virtual certainty to start in tomorrow night’s game at the Emirates. Evidently, Arsenal will have to play without fault in order to beat a team that has such a potent offence.  The most pressing question when it comes to the squad that Arsenal will field tomorrow, is whether or not they will be able to stop MSN from running the scoreline into double-digit numbers.

Everyone will have their opinions, but the fact of the matter is that Arsenal’s chances of stemming Barcelona’s attack will come down to compact defending. As always, much of the burden of nullifying the other team’s attack falls on the defenders. But in this particular game, Arsenal will have to defend as a unit. If one player is out of tune defensively, then things could get out of hand for the home team in a hurry.

If Arsenal are disciplined in that area, they might just be able to pull off a monumental upset of Barcelona one more time.  Having said that, here is the team that Arsene Wenger will most likely field tomorrow night.