Chelsea's plan could see Thierry cash in

His team have let in fewer goals (four) than any of the others remaining in the competition and his away record in the Champions League is perfection itself - five straight wins without conceding goal.

But this time, Ranieri's priority is scoring goals. Although he has to trawl back 17 games to find the last victory over their London neighbours, Ranieri can take encouragement from the fact that in each of the eight matches between the teams in the last two seasons his side have always scored at least once. The goals are shared by Eidur Gudjohnsen (two), John Terry (two), Hernan Crespo, Adrian Mutu, Mario Stanic, Gianfranco Zola and Emmanuel Petit and this only serves to emphasise the attacking nature of Ranieri's team.

"They HAVE to score," said Wenger. "We WANT to score. So we have the ingredients for an interesting game. When you go into a game in these circumstances trying to play for a goalless draw is a risk because a single mistake 10 minutes from time can put you out."

Wenger insists, therefore, that his team play their natural attacking game. Thierry Henry's restoration to the starting line-up will ease some of the anxieties that are inevitable as Arsenal attempt to win a place in the semifinals for the first time.

The Arsenal manager knows those anxieties will be further eased if Sol Campbell and his defensive colleagues can keep a clean sheet.

Although they have kept only six in their last 17 home Champions League matches, the last three European visitors to Highbury have failed to score.

"That shows how our defence has steadily improved as the season has progressed," said Wenger. "In one sense the form of the back four has been unexpectedly good. In August most of the questions I faced were about our defence. We hadn't bought a new centre-back and people were asking whether Jens Lehmann would be good enough to take over from David Seaman and whether Kolo Toure could retain his composure and discipline in tight situations.

"Well, I think the goals against column for the season provides all the answers. There is still work to do but I feel the defence has been consistently good this season. Maybe we were a little caught out with the goal against Manchester United but when you look at the match overall we restricted them to just one shot."

The return of England left-back Ashley Cole will inevitably strengthen the back four, though Wenger will not rely solely on defensive stability to secure Arsenal's progress. The memory of their only other quarter-final appearance - against Valencia in 2001 - still rankles. They were eliminated on the away-goals rule.

Chelsea are quite capable of scoring at Highbury and their situation demands that they attack. This, of course, is fertile territory for Arsenal, the Premiership's supreme counterattacking team.

Chelsea's need to press forward will inevitably stretch their formation and provide Henry with the space for his attacking runs.

An intriguing game, beamed live to 195 countries, is in prospect. Chelsea are flying and have lost only two of their last 17 first-team games - both against Arsenal.

But there is a theory that Arsenal are suddenly vulnerable. Wenger doesn't buy that.

"When you've invested the effort we have you care about what happens," he said. "We don't want to spoil what's in front of us because it's much bigger than the disappointment at the weekend."

This, for Ranieri, is probably his last big chance as Chelsea coach and, sadly, I suspect he will leave disappointed once again.