Arsenal will host AC Milan at the Emirates Stadium in the UEFA Champions League ‘Round of 16’ second leg tie against the Italian club. Arsenal will have to win this match by a big margin if they are to qualify for the Champions League quarter-finals.
Milan have won the first leg of the tie by 4-0 in a match which displayed one of Arsenal’s worst performances of the season. Stunning performances by Robinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic ensured a clinical win for the hosts in the first leg at San Siro.
Even the presence of club legend Thierry Henry, who was playing the last game of his two-month loan spell from the MLS, could not inspire the Gunners to make a comeback into the game dominated by an attacking Milan side.
Milan are no doubt the favourites to win the match and make it to the next round at the expense of the Gunners.
But Arsenal have come out of their slumber in the last two weeks to register unbelievable victories against Tottenham Hotspur in the London derby and Liverpool on last Sunday. Quite interestingly, both the matches started with Arsenal trailing but ended with fantastic results for Arsene Wenger’s side.
A win in this game will bring more stability at Arsenal and possibly convince skipper Robin van Persie to stay at the club by signing a new deal. And a quarterfinal berth in Europe’s most prestigious competition will surely attract players to the London side and help to materialize the much spoken deal of German forward Lukas Podolski in summer.
But to win by more than four goals against Milan is going to be a tough task for Wenger’s men, given the fantastic goal-scoring form of Milan’s forwards.
For Arsenal, the major injury concern is of Mikel Arteta who will miss the clash after suffering a knock in the match against Liverpool at Anfield. On the other hand, Massimiliano Allegri will miss the services of Alexander Pato in this game.