Having drawn A.S. Roma in the Last 16 of the Champions League, we will of course face Julio Baptista, who had a not-so-convincing spell with the Gunners but is performing really well with the Italians. The Brazilian believes Cesc Fabregas is the key in stopping Arsenal:

Cesc is the key to the Arsenal team and you have to do anything to stop him. If you can stop him getting possession and don’t give him the freedom to play, the ball will not get to Adebayor or Van Persie so they will be less dangerous.”

We would have preferred to play another side because Arsenal can beat anyone. It is a special game for me because of the time I spent there. A lot of important players have left since my time as a Gunner, but they always replace quality with quality and they always have players who are capable of causing difficulties.

People talk about the inconsistency of Arsenal but in the big games they are playing well and scoring goals. They are a dangerous side and to beat them we will have to play very well in both games.

In the “Spying on our European opponents” column, The Gunning Hawk will be giving weekly updates from this week until February on how Luciano Spalletti’s side is performing.