Champions League preview: Arsenal v Barcelona

France international Samir Nasri is expected to be fit for Arsenal’s Champions League showdown with Barcelona on Wednesday.

Nasri has made a speedy recovery after damaging his hamstring in the FA Cup fourth-round win over Huddersfield Town and his return would be a welcome boost to Arsene Wenger’s attacking options.

The midfielder, who has scored 14 times this season, will have further tests on his hamstring preceding the match before a decision is made.

But it is in defence where Arsenal will need to tread carefully, as Barcelona have scored 71 goals in La Liga already this campaign.

With last year’s quarter-final, which the Spanish giants won 6-3 on aggregate, still a sore point for the north London club, a tough first-leg encounter is expected.

Fiery Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere is certainly up to the task calling on his team-mates to ‘be a bit nasty’ by ‘getting in the faces’ of Barcelona.

“I was at the Emirates Stadium for the first game against Barcelona last season and they were brilliant, especially in that first half,” Wilshere said.

“I was in Bolton [on loan] for the second match and watched on television but I remember we basically played our game, passing it around.”

“This year we have to get in their faces and show them what we’re all about.”

“When we have the ball, we’ve got to keep it as well as they can.”

“We’ve got to change our game a bit to play against Barcelona – we’ll learn from last year, but we need to get in their faces and, if you like, be a bit nasty, in a footballing sense, to get the ball back.”

“We have to press them as a team – there’s no point just one of us going after them, so we have to close them down as a team and get the ball back from them.”

Manager Wenger believes his players can unsettle Barcelona by tapping into their own strengths.

“You can wonder whether we need to change the way we play at the Nou Camp but, at home, we will try to play to our strengths,” he said.

“We will try to attack the other team. If we just play in the final third defensively, that would not be our natural game and we would not be happy – we’d come out of the match thinking we hadn’t played.”

“But if we can escape their pressure, then we can be dangerous. We will create chances if we can put them under pressure. We have to think about how we do that.”

Meanwhile, Barca manager Pep Guardiola cancelled training on Sunday claiming his players were exhausted ahead of the Arsenal clash.

The La Liga leaders drew 1-1 with Sporting Gijon on Saturday, a result that ended a run of 16 league wins.

An 80th-minute goal by David Villa earned the point but the star striker admitted it was a tough match.

“They made it very difficult for us. They managed to do what all sides try to do but usually without success. They suffocated us in midfield and made sure Andres Iniesta and Xavi could not play their football,” Villa said.

Barcelona have the core of the Spain team which lifted the World Cup in July and have few weaknesses.

Their strike force of Pedro, Villa, Iniesta, Xavi and most of all Lionel Messi, with 24 goals in 20 La Liga games, is a real threat to the Gunners.