I am not saying that Arsenal have not got an extremely tough game ahead of us when Luis Enrique brings his treble winning Barcelona side to north London on Tuesday. They are not the holders of La Liga, the Copa Del Rey and the Champions League for no reason and they were finally able to register a couple of new players in January after their transfer embargo was lifted.
But as good as the Catalan club is they are not unbeatable and have been undone a few times already this season when their opponents have got their tactics right. What the Gunners cannot do is go toe-to-toe with the Spanish champions because no matter how good we might be on the ball, they are better and those tactics would play right into their hands.
When they have struggled this season it has been against a resolute defence and a counter attacking threat. When they were held by Roma in Europe Barca had about 75 percent of possession but were forced into long range shots and only managed three on target.
The same thing was true when they failed to score against lower league minnows Villanovense in the Spanish cup, 75 percent of the ball but just three shots on target. And they only managed two on target with 72 percent of the ball in the no score draw with local rivals Espanyol, so it is possible to stop them from scoring.
What is also encouraging is that Arsenal have already done this to Bayern Munich this season when we beat them 2-0 with only 23 percent possession and with Pep Guardiola in charge their style has become a lot closer to that of Barca’s.
The Spaniards did win away yesterday but it was a narrow victory against unfancied Las Palmas and the match on Tuesday will be their third in six games, so if we can stand firm and stop them from getting an early goal I see no reason to believe that the Gunners cannot pull off a big shock and beat the mighty Barcelona. What do you think?