It’s been half a decade since Arsenal last clashed with Barcelona. However, it seems  wasn’t ages ago when spanish midfielder, Cesc Fabregas was in his prime at Arsenal, then later accepted a three year contract with the team that beat him 2-1 and knocked his team out of the Champions League, and ended up winning the Premier League in 2015 with Chelsea.

With Arsenal having evolved significantly over the past three and a half years, are the Gunners capable of taking out the attacking force of Messi, Suarez and Neymar?

In order for Arsenal to take over this game, it is crucial that they will need to start the game strong with a high tempo, high pressure play style to counter the fast play style of Barcelona. They’ve coped pretty well with this style of play in the past with their matchup against Bayern Munich on October 20th, returning to England with a 2-0 win.

Although, for this game especially, Arsenal cannot lack any players who are going to slack off. They certainly have the players that can press the game, but it will come down to whether those players can perform or not. We all know the Mesut Ozil will make a big difference in this game, as well as Alexis Sanchez, but if French striker, Olivier Giroud can perform as well, then the Barcelona defense will have a hard time keeping Claudio Bravo safe in the net.

However, Arsenal must learn that they cannot press the entire game and that they will need to retreat towards the end to make sure that Petr Cech is also safe in the net as we all know that the attacking force of Messi, Neymar and Suarez is also going to be applying the pressure and we can also expect some long balls coming in from the midfield by Andres Iniesta or Ivan Rakitic, a problem they have struggled with in their last matchup against Barcelona in 2010 as Zlatan Ibrahimovic put away two goals to end the game as a 2-2 draw.

This game will come down to Arsenal needing to step up on every side of the pitch and Petr Cech having world class in the net. If all things go well for the Gunners today, Arsenal should surely have a chance of defeating Barcelona.

The game will begin at 1:45 CST.