Arsene Wenger is confident Arsenal can overcome AC Milan in the San Siro next week to reach the quarter-finals of the Champions League - but insists his team will not will not kick Brazilian playmaker Kaka to get there. The tie is delicately poised at 0-0 from the first leg at Emirates Stadium, where the Brazilian World Player of the Year had only a limited impact.
Wenger insists Arsenal will again look to stifle the influence of the gifted 25-year-old by cutting off his supply chain, rather than adopted the rough-house tactics so often deployed against his own men. "Milan have shown in Europe that they can deal with all sorts of opposition, they can slow the game down," Wenger reflected.
"What Milan do well is put you to their pace, and when Kaka gets the ball they can have sudden acceleration which can kill you. "We will have to adapt to that because we like to play always at a high pace." The Arsenal boss added: "In Italy, what do the teams do who play against Milan? They take Kaka, get him out of the game.
"We will play zonal and will not mark him man to man. We will be faithful to what we do usually. "We will try to get him out of the game by cutting the connections with him. "If you kick the great players out of the game, why should people go to watch football?
"Great players make football a bit special, they make it art. If you are there to kill them, it is not acceptable." But for the width of a crossbar in stoppage time when Emmanuel Adebayor failed to convert a close-range header, the Gunners could have been defending a lead when they head to Italy for Tuesday night's return. While the match is set to be an intriguing encounter, with Milan needing to come out more which could leave them open to a quick counter-attack, Wenger is all too aware of the threat posed by the defending champions on their own ground.
"It is important for us to start strongly in defence, but also not to hide. "What is good from the first result is we know every time we get the ball we are incited to go for a goal. "I do not like to go away from home thinking your team just has to defend. With a 0-0 result, we know that we have to attack as well. "From the first game, we have the belief we can beat them because we dominated the game - that always has an impact on the second game.
"We will need patience against them, but our pace can be a good asset. By his own admission, Arsenal are now entering a "crucial" phase of their campaign. With his side well placed for both domestic and European honours, the Gunners boss chooses to remain positive rather than look at a worst-case scenario of another barren season.
"I do not think about failure," Wenger declared. "I just think about winning the Champions League and wining the championship - it is as simple as that. "Everybody outside the game looks for failure from you. If you look as well for failure, then you are sure to get it, so I look at it in a positive way."
Dutch forward Robin van Persie could return from a long lay-off with a thigh problem, while defender Kolo Toure has a slim chance to be back from his calf injury. Emmanuel Eboue is available despite his domestic ban, and so is set to challenge Theo Walcott for a place in the side. England Under-21 international Walcott netted his first Barclays Premier League goals in the controversial 2-2 draw at Birmingham, where striker Eduardo suffered a broken leg.
Wenger hopes more of the same will now follow from the former Southampton trainee. "I felt after Theo had scored his first goal, you saw a different player," he said. "That is a positive, because it looks like it was a relief for him to score. "Suddenly when he had confidence, he started to take more people on - and the second goal he scored is the goal I see more in training, but which I never saw before now in a competitive game."
Wenger, meanwhile, remains positive midfielder Mathieu Flamini will agree a new deal to stay at Arsenal, with his current contract set to expire in the summer. "I can only repeat what he told me, and that is he wants to stay," said Wenger. When asked when the uncertainty would become a concern, the Gunners boss replied: "In April, because we should know more about that situation in March."
