This is the second consecutive match preview I have written from the local hospital, having brought visitors to a poor old soul unable to pass water under his own steam. The supreme irony is that I have just heard that on top of Fabregas, Gallas, Arshavin, and van Persie, we have travelled to Barca without Song. I have suddenly become as incontinent as a fella who has just walked into Toxteth’s roughest pub with an Anfield ‘89 teeshirt on!

Sol Campbell, his own availability uncertain according to Arsene Wenger, now becomes a very important figure, if he can recover from his exertions against Wolves on Saturday. The side pretty much picks itself now and it will be the big man or Silvestre alongside Vermaelen at the back.

It’s too late now for much wailing and gnashing of teeth. Lest we forget the hosts are without both of their recognised centre-backs and probably Ibrahimospellingmistake as well. Bojan will probably deputise for the double goalscorer of last week, but there has to be an outside chance that Thierry Henry might get the nod and give us a twelve to ten advantage in the Camp Nou?

If Arsenal have proved anything in the past, it is how to win the huge contest with a depleted side. The Cup-Winners Cup semi-final in 1980 was Juve’s for the taking according to the pundits. In the last minute a teenager called Paul Vaessen (see his sad story here) climbed to head the winner in Turin and we pulled off a sensational triumph. One-nil to the Arsenal!

Copenhagen in 1994 will never be forgotten by those fortunate enough to be out there. A patched up side with an injured goalkeeper, and no Ian Wright, were going to get battered by holders Parma in the Final of the same competition. Zola, Brolin, and Asprilla were cut down to size by a magical Alan Smith strike and a dogged defensive performance. One-nil to the Arsenal!

Champions League 2006. We are away to the Galacticos of Real Madrid with a back four including Senderos in the middle and Flamini at left-back. Can we keep the defeat respectable and give ourselves a chance at home, wonder the ‘experts’? Enter one Thierry Henry. We are on our way to the Final. One-nil to the Arsenal!

So at Barcelona I can’t put it any better than the boys on the Fans Forum on ATvO on Friday. “We have nothing to lose”. We know we don’t have much chance, but a chance we do most certainly have, and we have produced results against the odds before.

We have to do to Barca what they did to us at the Grove. By their own admission they have never played better, and still they couldn’t win. We have to do what we were doing for the first couple of months of the season. We have to press the ball all over the pitch and not allow them to weave their pretty patterns. Then we need to make the most of our advantages, for example the pace of Theo Walcott, and the aerial ability of Nicklas Bendtner against stand-in central defenders.

Then maybe we need to pray for a little miracle. Maybe even a fifteen minute cameo from another teenager, former Barca-boy Fran Merida, and a last minute winner you couldn’t even dream about tonight? The ‘holic pound has to be on an Arsenal win, a generous 15/2 with Paddy Power, although I will have a back-up pound on 3-3 if I can get to Coral, who offer 100-1 on a scoreline that will take us through on away goals!

Two days after the dramatic win against the Wolves and their captain, Karl Henry is moaning to anyone who will listen about the red card he was issued on Saturday afternoon. It's quite the tirade, but, taking an isolated highlight, he says:

"Maybe a yellow card, but I think I would still have been screaming at the referee", I think yes, and then you would probably have got a yellow card for dissent and therefore been sent off anyway. So, er, shut up Karl. It's interesting that he derides us as moaners repeatedly, because the layman might logically conclude that Karl Henry is also a bit of a moaner, that point seems to have escaped him somewhat.

For those who were at the game, the tackle- and let me say again that I thought at the time it was a sending off and having seen it again, I still do- will have quickly brought to mind Aaron Ramsey's interview in the matchday programme. When asked for his assessment of the Shawcross "tackle", the young Welshman said:

"I don't believe he wanted to break my leg, but I think he wanted to go through both the ball and me- to take me out and make sure I felt the tackle."

Clearly there is a world of difference between the two tackles, seeing as Ramsey will not play again till next season, but for me I think that the intent of Henry's tackle was along very similar lines to that of Shawcross' challenge, as perceived by its victim and therefore a red card was the only sensible outcome.

Anyway, I think that's enough about Karl Henry, as the Arsenal squad fly out today to the new home of Thierry Henry. They do so with one more body lying on the treatment table, rather than sitting on the plane. If it wasn't for the season ending injuries to Fabregas and Gallas, this one might reasonably be described as a hammer blow. Alex Song, who was probably earmarked to begin tomorrow night in the centre of defence, is out tomorrow night with a groin injury. Which means a straight choice between Sol and Mikael Silvestre. I don't believe that Sol isn't capable of playing two games inside 4 days, especially when he had very little to do on Saturday afternoon- well, apart from his gallivanting up the pitch just before half-time, anyway. But it wouldn't be a major shock to see Micky S lining up tomorrow night in the vast expanses of Camp Nou.

This has been an incredible season for injuries, hasn't it? I thought it was funny when the ITV interviewer asked Arsène about Cesc's injury after the match last week and he said, "I don't know (how bad it is)". For one thing, it was five minutes after the game finished and for another, Cesc was probably in a queue for treatment behind Arshavin and Gallas anyway. The injuries, paradoxically, put us in quite a nice position, I think. Huh? Yeah, let me explain it. Nobody reckons we'll win in Barcelona anyway. Without RvP, without Cesc, Song and Gallas we have basically lost the spine of our team, so one might reasonably extrapolate that we have less chance than a snowball in hell. But, for me, historically, this is when we are at our best. You can go back through the modern history of Arsenal and find countless examples of where the Gunners have confounded expectations, be it Wembley 87, Anfield 89, Copenhagen 94 and I think, at a push even Old Trafford 02 was a place where observers thought we might come unstuck- we didn't, of course. We have our own history with Barcelona too, drawing 1-1 with ten men at Camp Nou ten years ago. There's a banner hanging over the north west corner of the Grove now that alludes to the never say die attitude of this club, "The Spirit of 71" featuring then skipper McLintock and current skipper Fabregas. The legend of that 71 double side founded on the events of a year earlier when Arsenal came from 3-0 down to beat Anderlecht in the Fairs Cup Final.

Listen, I'm not saying we will do it I'm not that crazy. But the pressure is off us, nobody realistically expects anything other than a convincing win for the home side, but last week showed the world that this Arsenal side are tougher than they appear and that they do have the weapons to hurt a Barcelona side who, in the absence of their first choice centre backs and first choice centre forward, are not without their own problems. If the lads go out there tomorrow, play their football and stick together, well then, who knows? Tomorrow promises to be a very long day.

21 years old Mexican Carlos Vela stays in London when his teammates taking the plane to Barcelona today for their crucial Champions League encounter with Pep Guardiola’s star side on Tuesday evening in the Catalan metropolis.

Arsenal Manager Arsene Wenger has left the Mexican out of his 18-man travelling squad, instead he has nominated unexperienced players like Fran Mérida or Craig Eastmond. There is no reason confirmed why Carlitos don’t make the squad, but if he did not pick up a knock in Saturday’s match, then it is a not understandable decision by Gunners Manager Arsene Wenger.

Furthermore Vela was fully involved in this morning’s practice unit at Arsenal Training Ground in London, Colney. (Pic: Vela and Mérida at London, Colney April 5)

Andrei Arshavin, along with thousands of Arsenal fans, said at the beginning of the season that the Gunners were two or three players short of being World-beaters, but Arsene Wenger stuck to his guns and refused to invest any of his profit on some new blood.

That may have been his downfall as the usual injuries have severely weakened the team this season, but will he change the habits of a lifetime this summer?

Ivan Gazidis has said that he has a kitty to spend, if he wants it, and Wenger has said he will only spend if the incoming players will make the team stronger. Well the two players that have recently issued come-and-get-me pleas to Wener will certainly do that!

The first is the Belgian youngster Eden Hazard, who Wenger has admired for years, but never quite got around to buying him when he was cheap enough. Now he will cost in the region of £18m, but is still just 19 years-old, and is very keen to finally join the Gunners.

Hazard said: “Real Madrid and Arsenal are the clubs I dreamed of joining as a child. Maybe one day I will play in the Premier League, or the Spanish league.”

Okay he’s leaving his options open, but Arsenal are the team he has been linked with since he was a young teenager. The Lille coach, who has nurtured Hazard for man years, had this to say about him: “You have to keep perspective as he is still very young – but he is like Lionel Messi.

“He shows the same quality to take on players, not very big, very quick, able to take on two or three players in a small space, the ability to score and create goals. He is not as good as Messi yet, but he has the talent to become this kind of player.

“He is the kind of player you have got every 10 or 15 years. He has got a very rare talent. I think he has been blessed by God.”

Surely a player like that could only be an asset to Arsenal in the future. And in Wenger could certainly look at it as a super investment. If he can improve as much as players like Cesc Fabregas, then surely he will be worth over £40m one day?

The second player that Wenger needs to get on board is another extremely promising youngster in Loic Remy. He is only 23 but has proved in the last couple of years that he has an eagle eye for goal, and has many years left in him at the top. At over 6ft, he would help add some height to a smallish Arsenal attack, but more importantly is very keen on becoming Wenger’s next hitman.

“Arsenal are the club I want to join. I won’t deny they are my priority,” said Remy. “Arsenal are a young, ambitious side and I love to watch them play.

“It is the ideal place for me. I spoke with Thierry Henry about them and asked him lots of questions about life there.

“That is because I have been an Arsenal fan since I was little. I was not disappointed with what he told me.”


If Thierry Henry has recommended to him to join Arsenal, then he must surely have shown a lot of promise to the Gunners legend, and again, at just £12m he could be a brilliant investment. He could be a success at the Emirates and have a fabulous sell-on price in a few years time, just like Hazard. How much of a hint does Wenger need?

Reports are saying that Wenger has £30m, so isn’t this the perfect way for “Le Miser” to invest his money?

                                                  Almunia
                              Sagna - Campbell  Verma - Clichy
                                                Denilson
                                            Diaby - Rosicky
                                    Nasri    Bendtner  Walcott