Arsenal's Determination Key Against Barcelona

Arsenal once again showed their powerful will-power on Saturday to overcome a tough Wolves side at the Emirates. It was the same old story. Despite creating numerous chances, they scuffed them wide or blazed them over, wasting precious goalscoring opportunities until the 93rd minute of stoppage time when Nicklas Bendtner produced a great header from a delicious cross from Bacary Sagna.

It was another win by the skin of their teeth, but Arsenal got the result. Never did their heads go down, and never did they show any sign of giving up. This new-found belief adds so much to an already talented side. It may be repetitive, but last season, we probably would have drawn that match. This season though, things are quite different.

With Alexandre Song just ruled out of the Barcelona match, its already looking like an impossible task to go to the Nou Camp and win the tie. We're already missing the most influential person at the club, Cesc Fabregas, as well as William Gallas and Andrei Arshavin.

Barcelona are missing star forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Andres Iniesta, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, and Yaya Toure. Their injuries may not seem as important as ours but the two missing center-backs are a huge blow to them, as they would be to any team.

Arsenal are going to have to use all their new-found determination and steel in Barcelona. They have developed a mental aspect of the game that not even the high and mighty Barcelona could penetrate last week. They just won't give up, and the story cannot be any different Tuesday in Catalunya.

No matter what Barca throws at them, Arsenal need to chug and plug away, never stopping. The same way three Barca players crowd the man in possession when they've lost it, Arsenal need to hassle and harry them for the full 90 minutes. This is a mental battle as much as it is technical. If Arsenal can hold on for an hour, even if it is nil-nil until then, their chances will improve exponentially.

Theo Walcott will be itching to run at the tired left-back and make an impact like he did last week. In central midfield, Abou Diaby and Denilson will have to be diligent and disciplined, resisting the natural Arsenal urge to push up because their job may be the most important. The creativity will rest on the creative pair of Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky. The hard work will have to be put in by Nicklas Bendtner to ensure that Barca's center defenders don't have the freedom to push up or spread play as they usually do.

At the end of the day, this may go down to fighting attitude. In the 1st leg, Barcelona showed that they are susceptible to complacency. Even at nil-nil they can suffer from over-confidence. Just listen to what they're saying in the media, as opposed to the more down-to-earth stuff from Bendtner and Wenger himself. As long as we don't give up and give 100 percent, we can overcome any obstacle.

P.S.- To all the people saying that Arsenal will find it difficult at Camp Nou because its bigger than the Emirates, check your facts. The Camp Nou's PITCH is actually smaller than the Emirates. Just thought I'd put that out there.