Arsenal Should Defend from the Front Against Barcelona

European nights don't come bigger than this.

North London is gripped by an aura of insurmountable and unchallenged significance, expectation, and adventure and every fan of the beautiful game won't care a bit even if the first two days of the week were to be erased off it just to speed up the "Mother of all kick-offs".

No doubt it would be some spectacle , but tactics would still go a long way in determining who comes out on top.

And one thing is for sure, Arsenal would not employ the cheap and exasperating tactic used by Chelsea last year when they met Barcelona in the Champions League Semi-Finals.

I would rather watch my beloved club go down fighting than win through a gutless display of shoving nine bodies in the box and hoping for, rather than creating, a goal scoring opportunity.

So what exactly should Arsenal do in order to shut down the Catalans?

Well they need not look further than the game between Inter Milan and Chelsea, where Jose Mourinho's men gave a master lesson in pressing and defending from the front.

That is, in my opinion, exactly the tactic Arsenal should employ.

If you cast your mind back to the Liverpool-Arsenal game on December 13 at Anfield, this was exactly what the Gunners did in the second half and this, apart form Andrei Arshavin's wonder goal, was the reason why the two halves were different as chalk from cheese.

For this to bear fruit, Andrei Arshavin, Nicklas Bendtner and whoever plays up front along with those two will have to work extremely hard to make sure the Barcelona back four are not given any space to work with and not given much time on the ball.

Arsenal's midfield also will have to press a lot in order to prevent Barca from getting into their rhythm.

This would not only help the Gunners to upset the Catalans early on in the game, but also win back possession faster and create more chances up front.

Gallas might be injured but his absence has largely gone unnoticed, due to the immense back to back defensive displays from Sol Campbell. Though it's hard to pick any defense that can hold Barcelona for 180 minutes, Sol's ability to read the game and Thomas Vermaelen's impregnable-like solid defense are good enough to do the job, provided they get the support from the rest of the team.

As far as the attack is concerned, one can, given the versatility in Arsenal's arsenal, come up with numerous ideas, but one thing which can make the difference, and not only in this game, is shooting more often.

Since the defenders are wary of most of Arsenal's player's ability to thread a through ball with absolute impeccability, more space than usual is given, and this can be exploited by taking on shots from outside the box. 

But coming back to defending from the front, a significant part of the reason why Barcelona are the best in the world is because complacency is almost non-existent within that team, the whole team.

Even when they were leading 3-0 against Stuttgart in the second leg at Camp Nou, I remember Lionel Messi chasing and pouncing on the opposition's defenders, denying them any sort of space to work with.

In my article "Four reasons why Arsenal will easily overcome Porto," which I wrote after Arsenal lost to Porto 2-1 in the first leg, the first reason I emphasized was that there would be no complacency within the team since it was the second leg and the target was clear in everyone's mind.

Arsenal don't have that luxury this time around, but playing Barcelona itself is a good enough reason for the Gunners to be absolutely committed right from the go.

If there's one manager who deserves to win the Champions league more than anyone else, it is Arsene Wenger.

And if there is one team that can take the game to the mighty Catalans and come out on top, it is Arsenal.

On Wednesday night, both can move one step closer.