Tempo a big match by Nasri needed. Gallas could play

When it was known that Fabregas would not play against Porto quite a few fans feared that Arsenal would not win, in the end Arsenal won 5-0. I don't know anyone who predicted a score that high, although the people with money on Bendtner's hat trick were more than halfway there. One reason that Cesc wasn't missed that night was that Nasri had a great game, but no one predicted that.

At the time of writing Wenger has said that he will not know if Fabregas will play until just before kick off on Wednesday night, if he doesn't play then Nasri will need another big match, fortunately Sami is recovering from his injury and is almost certain to start. More good news is that Arshavin will be fit and so will Gallas, with Vermaelen also available Wenger has three very good centre backs chose from.

 Arsenal's best chance against Barca is to create a high tempo game without leaving themselves open at the back, easier said than done. Wenger will not resort to man marking, even though a lot of armchair coaches will advise him to do so.

 It's true that Arsenal's defence has not been good overall this season, but it is now much improved; in the last 5 games at home, including Porto, Arsenal have not conceded. In the last 8 games, not including Porto away, they have conceded four goals, that is .5 of a goal a game. The much maligned Almunia has played in every one of those eight games.

Forget the Birmingham goal it was a fluke, it is Phillip's swan song he will never be as lucky again. I don't grudge him it one bit; he has been a great pro who deserves to go out on 250 goals. Rather than worry about the fluke the Arsenal team need to focus on the .5 average since the 10th February excluding Porto away. Why exclude Porto away? Because unfortunately that is the night Fabianski lost it.

So Arsenal will not man mark, they will believe that zonal marking will deliver. There is an advantage to that, no one player will carry the burden of marking Messi, and Arsenal will concentrate on their own game. It might be possible to mark Messi out of the game but someone else will score if Arsenal does not get their own game working. Very few teams attack Arsenal, Barca will. So Arsenal will get chances, so rather than worry if Barca will score the more important question is will Nasri or Arshavin score if they get the chance? Waste chances and the iron law will assert itself, miss a chance and the other team will score.

This has been Arsenal's greatest weakness this season, not the defence, but the inability to score key goals against big teams. Arshavin and Nasri will need a big game in front of the Barca goal, and Vermaelen will need an even greater game in defence.