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It becomes very tempting when staring down a knockout tie against one of the best clubs in Europe over the last decade to start writing the postmortem. Even more so when you're a fan of Arsenal in the round of 16. But here at The Short Fuse, hope springs eternal! There is every reason to believe in the team ahead of these ties.
Arsenal are healthy (relatively). Key players are rested. They're at home. Surely, the team has learned from previous missteps in the group stages and can build over their resounding 2-0 victory against Bayern Munich. No one expects Arsenal to do anything but roll over and expose their soft underbellies. Gabriel knows a forumla!
Yes, by Bergkamp, there is no better situation for Arsenal to pull the shock upset than today. Well... other than the fact that the opponent is Barcelona who are just sort of cruising through every competition they are in and just happen to possess the best trio of attackers in recent memory. That.
Still, fortune favours the bold.
Here's the official @ChampionsLeague team sheet for #AFCvFCB. Nine changes for @Arsenal from the weekend's game pic.twitter.com/iSfxiLBlFC
— Arsenal FC (@Arsenal) February 23, 2016