Why Arsenal can reach the quarter finals tonight

Arsenal face Barcelona this evening in an incredibly exciting game of football. Arsenal hold a 2-1 advantage after a brilliant first leg and are in a great position to progress to the next round. Barcelona do however have the crucial away goal and I believe it is vital that Arsenal score this evening to wipe out the away goal Barcelona have. This would also mean Barcelona would have to score three times to win the tie as a 2-1 victory for the Catalan giants would only take the game to extra time. I believe Arsenal can progress to the next round for a number of reasons,including the vital return of Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas.


1) Puyol and Pique are both out of tonight's game
    Barcelona's two first choice centre halves are out of tonight's game and this is great news for the Arsenal. They are the best centre back pairing in the world in my opinion, and proved this by winning the World Cup for Spain. It is a huge boost for Arsenal as it means Eric Abidal is likely to be paired with the holding midfielder Sergio Busquets at the back. Neither are experienced centre backs and hopefully Arsenal can take advantage of this.

Pep Guardiola must of missed the first match.

2) Jack Wilshere
Pep Guardiola has been saying in the press that he has many players of Wilshere's ability in his reserve side. This isn't at all true and he is saying this just to get at Arsenal and specifically young Jack himself. In the first leg Jack bossed the midfield and didn't look at all out of place playing against the likes of Xavi and Iniesta. He has been immense this season and has progressed remarkably into a world class footballer. I believe he will impress again tonight and hopefully score the winner to shut Guardiola up. 


3) Arsenal's solid defence
  Arsenal's defence has played well this season under the guidance of the young keeper Wojciech Szczesny. Johan Djourou and Laurent Koscielny have formed an excellent partnership and this season the trio have kept many clean sheets whilst playing together. In the league we have conceded 3 goals less than United who supposedly have the strongest defence and goalkeeper in the league. Laurent Koscielny is suited perfectly to playing against Barcelona due to his incredible anticipation and brilliant tackling technique. After all last year Mikael Silvestre played who has the turning circle of a bus and Lionel Messi was always going to tear him apart, this wont happen with Djourou and Koscielny. 

4) The return of Francesc Fabregas
   To the relief of all Arsenal fans, the highly influential captain has recovered from injury in time to face his hometown club Barcelona. He is an incredible footballer who Barcelona are clearly very keen to buy in the summer. He brings a technical level to Arsenal that nobody else possesses and he has the ability to dominate the midfield and win the tie for Arsenal. He is also as close as Arsenal have to a true leader, and the rest of the team will be very pleased to be led out by the Spaniard this evening at the Nou Camp. 


5) Robin Van Persie...

The flying Dutchman was meant to be out for at least the next four weeks but he has made a miraculous recovery and has traveled with the rest of the squad to Barcelona. He was pictured yesterday in full training with the rest of the side and later on in the day Arsene confirmed he would fly to Barcelona and undergo a late fitness test. Wenger also said he will only play if he is fully fit and he isn't going to risk injuring the fragile forward again. I however believe he will feature at least from the bench as they wouldn't have bothered taking him to Barcelona otherwise. It is worth the risk as Robin is a world beater, and he will be up against a left back and a holding midfielder in defence for Barcelona. It is clearly a great opportunity for our best forward to play against a weakened defence and I would take the risk even if he was only 80% fit. He is hugely influential and is in sparkling form and has the ability to take Arsenal to the quarter finals.


 Arsenal should progress to the next round due to the one goal advantage and the fact that Barcelona have their two first choice centre backs out of the match. However all the Arsenal players will need to be at the top of their games to beat the world's best team, but they will never get a better chance to defeat the Catalan giants.