Their own manager says their imminent opponents are the best team in the world. Their captain wants to play for them and their star playmaker has been linked with them, yet Arsenal are only 90 minutes away from pulling off one of the greatest shocks in a long time in the Champions League if they manage to finish off their first leg heroics and go to the Camp Nou and come away having knocked out Barcelona.
Although the chances of this happening are indeed remote, the fact remains that the Gunners do possess enough talent to put up a decent fight against a side that can seriously be considered as one of the best ever in the history of the game. However, should the Gunners end up playing the game without Cesc Fabregas, then they may well find themselves facing one hurdle too many, especially in light of the fact that they are almost certain to be without two of their key players in the form of Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott. Arsenal will have to dig deep if they want to appear on the Champions League final betting lists.
Despite the loss of these two players, the Gunners showed in the first leg that they are capable of mixing it up with the boys from Catalonia and even giving the Spanish giants a taste of their own medicine by making the most of the chances they created. With chances at the Camp Nou likely to be at a premium for Arsenal, they will need the players that these chances fall to to make the most of them, much as they did at the Emirates. Any failure to do so will surely see the Gunners knocked out with a whimper rather than a bang.
Should the Gunners pull off Mission Impossible, then who would bet against them going all the way to Wembley and lifting the trophy for the first time in their history?
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