Gilberto Has Faith

Arsenal vice captain Gilberto Silva believes that Arsenal can progress to the Champions League quarter-final, despite going into the second leg 1-0 down against PSV.

Arsenal have had a torrid time of late after exiting both domestic cups under circumstances that are hard to swallow. But Gilberto believes that the victory over Reading will give the youngsters the belief they need to turn in a sensational performance and progress.

‘When you are young, it is quite difficult to cope with the pressure and the last few days have been hard for them – but they are learning,’ said the Brazilian.

‘We were a bit down and frustrated because of the results – and this (victory over Reading) was important because a win helps set us up for a massive game against PSV.

‘It is the biggest game of our season because if we lose the season will be over in terms of trophies.

‘We know that we can win against PSV because we played well there and it was only the result that was missing.’

Gilberto, who could skipper the side on Wednesday if Henry fails to recover from an ankle injury, says that PSV will come to The Grove and just defend, defend, defend, something that will make them tough to break down: ‘We are going to have to be patient on Wednesday,’ he confessed.

‘They sat back against us, waited for our mistake and they capitalised when we lost concentration – but we have 90 minutes to win the game so it is important to remain calm.

‘The rest of our season is in our hands – we have to keep pushing ourselves and fighting for the victories.’