Arsenal Vs. Wolves: A Must Win for Wenger's Men Ahead of the Barcelona Match

Arsenal will play host to Wolverhampton Wanderers tomorrow at the Emirates. Keeping the squad focused on this match, knowing there will be a big match mid-week against Barcelona, could be challenging for Wenger.

Arsenal will look to come out and erase last week’s game from the minds of everyone watching. With that in mind, they have to make sure they don’t come out playing with their heart as opposed to their head.

Wolves arrive in North London with their confidence at a high after handing Sir Alex Ferguson's men their first loss in this edition of the English Premier League. Wolves manager Mick McCarthy doesn't seem to believe that their victory last week at Molineux will have any effect on this match.

When asked about this match he said, ''I don't take the view that the game before has a direct effect on the next game. It can't, because when you see our result against Bolton, how on earth does it stack up to what we did against Manchester United? Most people would have thought they'd have turned up here and slapped us."

Arsene Wenger has said he will not be resting any players with the match against Barcelona in mind.

"There is no Barcelona in mind," he said. "We fought so hard to be in this position now that the most important thing is that we focus on the Premiership."

Arsenal will be without Abou Diaby after being sent off last week at St. James Park. The good news for the Gunners is that Djourou is match fit. Robin Van Persie has also recovered from the flu, and Denilson will return to the squad.

By the time the Arsenal-Wolves match kicks off, Wenger will surely already know the final result of the Manchester United-Manchester City game. Will that have any influence on how Wenger approaches the match?

After last week, Arsenal can’t afford to come out of this match with anything less than three points. That would take a toll on the squad going into the mid-week clash with Barcelona for the Champions League. The Gunners will have to go into that game with full confidence, and a good result against Wolves will surely help that. 

It will be important that Arsenal come out with confidence and take control of the game from the get go. Scoring first and early will relieve a lot of pressure from the team. If the match at Old Trafford plays into a favorable result for the Gunners, I would expect a very motivated Arsenal squad.