Barcelona vs Arsenal preview

March 7, 2011
By: Nemanja Lazarevic

After coming from behind to win the first leg 2:1, Arsenal carry a one-goal advantage to Camp Nou, which is by no means a guarantee the Gunners will go through.

Barcelona dominated the large periods of the game at the Emirates and they are expected to be even more dominant in front of the home fans, so the home win looks like a banker even though the highest odds on Barcelona are 1.30 (3/10) on Paddy Power.

Pep Guardiola, who should be on the bench despite spending last few days in hospital due to a back injury, cannot count on his starting centre-back pairing as Gerard Pique is suspended, whereas Carles Puyol failed to recover in time.

This means that Sergio Busquets and Eric Abidal are likely to start at the heart of defence, which means Arsenal striker will have a good chance of scoring at least once at Camp Nou. Bear in mind that Sportingbet pays 4.33 (10/3) on Arsenal to score over 1.5 goals.

The Gunners produced quite a coup by beating Barca at the Emirates despite going a goal down, but the team have since suffered quite a few unexpected slip-ups on domestic stage.

Arsenal first suffered a shock defeat to Birmingham in the Carling Cup final before missing a chance to gain the upper hand over Manchester United in the title race, meaning Arsene Wenger’s side enter this game low on confidence, with numerous selection problems only adding to the worries.

Robin van Persie and Theo Walcott have been ruled out with injuries, while Cesc Fabregas, Jack Wilshire and Alex Song are injury doubts.

The Gunners are seen as major underdogs in this clash, but if players like Fabregas and Wilshire recover in time, which looks likely to be the case, they will stand a decent chance, so odds of 3.60 (13/5) offered on Arsenal to qualify are worth a shot.

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