The shortest month of the year has already come and one event that charakterizes implicitly February, is knocking on the door. No, it isn’t Valentine’s day. On 16.02.2016 at 20:45 the signals of the both main referees are going to initiate the first two rounds of 16 of the 61-th edition of the most commercial European club tournament – PSG-Chelsea and Benfica-Zenit.

The topic of this analyse won’t be the above-mentioned games. I am going to rush a little bit and I am going to fix on the match between Arsenal and Barcelona. I am sure, it is one game, that we expects with a great anticipation; one encounter, that faces two teams, which perfectly know each other; two clubs, which share the same vision of game. A style, that is synonim of the words „beauty“ and „pleasure“.

Why did I choose this game?
For sure it is going to be a great contest and Barcelona is the more dangerous side in this game but I strongly believe, that this Arsene Wenger’ Arsenal can not only put pressure on Luis Enrique’s team but this Arsenal can knock it out of the competition. Yes, maybe for some it would sound unbelievable, ambitiously, chimerically, even ridiculous but it is possible. Last time, when these two teams met each other, was in 2011 again in round of 16. Then the team from London won the game at „Emirates“ with 2:1 but in the revange at „Nou Camp“ was defeated by Barcelona with 1:3. I can say this team of Arsenal is stronger and more dangerous than those in 2011 but the problem for Wenger and his side is, that Barcelona is more powerful from that time too. For sure I am the last person, who can give Arsene Wenger advice and instructions for his job but in my opinion there are some key components in the game, which if will be fullfilled in the right way by the Gunners, we could be witnesses of the unlikely according to some people denouement. Therefore I would like to canvass them, before we see what will actually happen on 23.02.2016.

Speed and swiftness in defence and attack
Without hesitation FC Barcelona is the more dangerous side what means, Arsene Wenger will oblige his players to display more defensively style, combined with striking counter – attacks. As to Arsenal’s defence, I would like to make two clarifications: first, when I say „more defensively style“, I don’t mean the well-known deep defence. On the contrary, I mean the high defensive line, combined with aggresive (according to the rules of course) midfielders like Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey, who to bring the time of thinking of Barca’s players to minimum. Second, personally for me the Wenger’s choice for center backs will be very interesting. On the one hand we have Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, who are the more experienced tandem but on the other hand we have Gabriel Paulista and Laurent Koscielny, who are the faster. It is not a chance I am touching on this question, related to the centerbacks in Arsenal’s defence because we saw what happened during the game against Chelsea at „Emirates“ when Per was categorically overtaken by Diego Costa. The situation here is quite different even more difficult because the Arsenal’s defence is going to face Messi, Suarez and Neymar whose speed is needless to explain. The duel between Hector Bellerin and Neymar on the right wing is going to be very interesting too.

The pace in attack will be a fundamental part of an eventually success of Arsenal. If we define the above-mentoined scenario and namely – Luis Enrique’s side will take the initiative in the game and Arsenal will be a little bit more defensively than usually, for sure the counter-attacks will be the key for goal-scoring. However, we all are awared, the counter attacks are performed by faster players who are capable of dealing with the high-speeded balls. Being based on this determination of the counter-attack, I do believe that Olivier Giroud won’t be among the starting XI due to his qualities which are completely different. He will be beneficial to the game in a later stage of the match when it will be required physical energy and holding the ball. The French striker doesn’t possess the needed speed and dribble for overcoming the defence of Spanish colossus. As a whole, when Arsenal changes its central striker in direction of Walcott-Giroud or Giroud-Walcott, the style of the game modifies, which is good because Wenger may relie on plan „B“. In this case against Barca Walcott would be the right choice for striker, who is able to start the match. Supported by Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Özil and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain / Joel Campbell, the Gunners’s attack acquires a pretty interesting vision, containing a creativity, speed and variation.

Efficiency
Reconciling ourselves to the fact that the team from London will think more about their defence than the attack, the efficiency in scoring goals will be for Arsenal undoubtedly the most important element of Gunners’s winning paln.

Without making a research in advance, I remember a few Arsenal’s encounters, in which the efficiency in attack was crucial for Arsene Wenger’s side.

Arsenal – Manchester United (04.10.2015) (3:0) – Yes, United isn’t already the team that was under guidence of Sir Alex Ferguson but on this day when Arsenal defeated the 20-times EPL champion, making the result 3:0 till the 19-th minute, the speed and the efficiency in Arsenal’s game were key factor thanks to it Arsene Wenger’s team secured the 3 points.

Arsenal – Bayern (Munich) (20.10.2015) (2:0) – All we remember this so important game for Wenger and his players that conveyed the answer of the question whether Arsenal will qualify for round of 1/16 or will be knocked out of the competition. Then an excellent played in tactical plan game secured the very important 3 points which gave back the hopes for qualifying for the knock out rounds. A match, that show us a great combination of a strong, mature and tactically knowledgeable defence and of course a efficiency that came maybe a little bit late in the game but we have to underline the victory.

Arsenal – Manchester City (21.12.2015) (2:1) – In encounter that faced the both title pretenders in this season ( already Leicester and Tottenham), the Arsene Wenger’s side managed to take the lead for the first 45 minutes with 2:0, although the initiative was in behalf of Manchester City. And then we saw the maturity of Gunners that helped them to oppose the Topteams.

Liverpool – Arsenal (13.01.2016) (3:3) – The situation here was more different because some mistakes in Arsenal’s defence were the reason of not winning the derby but the efficiency, the strong spirit and mentality were displayed again by the Gunners, although they couldn’t save their lead till the end of the game.

Of course there is an another scenario in which the lack of the efficiency in attack comes to the fore. We are back in 2014/2015 when Arsenal hosted Manchester United at „Emirates“. A very good first part of the match for Arsenal, many posibilities for goals, few of them were so close but in the last reckoning these chances didn’t become goals. And Manchester United won the derby with 2:1. Olivier Giroud scored for Arsenal but too late.

We are fixing on the season 2014/2015 again when Arsenal met AS Monaco in round of 16 that team of Leonardo Jardin actually was given up by most people after the draw. But the impossible happened. The side from French Ligue 1 won at „Emirates“ with the impressive 3:1 which surpriced the whole football world. If we take a look to the statistic, we will see that Arsenal had 14 shots off target, only 4 of them were on target. Yes, the Gunners got the victory in Monaco with 2:0 but they had there lack of luck again.

We can point out the same plot again in 2013/2014 when Arsenal’s opponent in Champions League was Bayern (Munich). The place was „Emirates“. An encounter in which Arsene Wenger’ side started very confident the first 15-20 minutes even it recieved a penalty but to Arsenal’s fans great regret all of these posibilities were missed out. In addition to that Wojciech Szczesny was sent off before the end of the first half and Bayern won the first match with 2:0.

With all of these examples I want to say that the efficiency and the luck become a fixture from Arsenal’s game and they have to attend Wenger’s players if they want to eliminate Barcelona. In a few words – Arsenal has to turn they chances into goals. To keep his squad healthy till 23.02, will be a key moment for Wenger too because the injuries are in the last years the biggest enemy of the club.

Personally I am filled with hopes because Arsenal showed us they can play very strong at home against the big clubs and maybe because they already can demonstrate a maturity and good tactically discipline when they face the biggest in Europe.

I am going to say a few words about Barcelona but when it is about these club the words are needless because the pleasure and the enjoyment, watching Barca’s way of playing, are priceless. However, it will be needed. Since Luis Enrique is manager of Barcelona, one detail was added to the playing style of the side from Primera Division. An element that makes Barcelona lethal for its opponents. We got used to the Guardiola’s a lot of passing and ball-possession style that sometimes bordered on boredom. The situation now is quite different. Luis Enrique has added more pace, more speed in Barca’s style of playing that are a great weapon. I also want to underline the way which Barca’s players know how to come into position without ball. Something that they can to perfection. The rest is MSN.