Arsenal vs Barcelona Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Predicted Score

Arsenal will be hoping to secure a first leg advantage when we entertain Barcelona at the Emirates in the Champions League tonight.

We warmed up for the game with a disappointing 0-0 draw with Hull City in the FA Cup on Saturday so Arsene Wenger will be looking for a much-improved performance from his players this evening.

Tonight’s game starts what is going to be a pivotal run of fixtures that will also see our Premier League title credentials tested with trips to Manchester United and Tottenham, so it’s important we get off to a strong start with a positive result against Barca.

Obviously we go in to the game as underdogs and it’s going to be a huge test for the squad but we shouldn’t forget that we beat the Catalans 2-1 the last time they came to the Emirates in 2011, so hopefully we can get a repeat of that victory tonight.

BACK ARSENAL TO WIN AT 14/1  OR BARCA AT 5/1+ MONEY BACK IF YOU LOSE

Team news

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger is set to recall a number of first team players after resting his big-guns against Hull at the weekend.

Petr Cech will return in goal while Hector Bellerin, Nacho Monreal, Francis Coquelin, Aaron Ramsey, Alexis Sanchez, Mesut Ozil and Olivier Giroud should all come back in to the side.

Gabriel has been ruled out with a hamstring injury so he joins Jack Wilshere, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky on the sidelines.

As for Barcelona, Arda Turan will be suspended for the first leg while Rafinha remains injured.

Likely Line-Ups

Predicted Score

Arsenal 1-1 Barcelona: We are going to have to be on top form to take anything from this game and many assume we’re going to attack Barca as we need to secure a first leg win to progress. However, Wenger has hinted we may be more cautious as he says it’s imperative we don’t concede an away goal, so I think this might be a more cagey game than some would expect.

Barca have the best attack in world football and I don’t think we’ll be able to keep them out for 90 minutes but let’s not forget we have plenty of dangerous players ourselves and the Spaniard’s have weaknesses at the back, so I’m backing us to secure a 1-1 draw. Which wouldn’t be the worst result heading to the Nou Camp.

Betting Tips

Barcelona are the 4/5 favourites to win the game but Football-Talk can get you enhanced odds of 14/1 on a home win or 5/1 on a Barca win – just click here to take advantage of these crazy odds. My prediction of 1-1 is on offer at 7/1 while I also like the look of Luis Suarez to open the scoring at 7/2. If you combined those two bets in a score-cast then we get very tempting odds of 28/1.

BACK ARSENAL TO WIN AT 14/1  OR BARCA AT 5/1+ MONEY BACK IF YOU LOSE

What do you think? What line-up would you like to see start?