Wilshere "We won't just wait for them"

Jack Wilshere insists Arsenal will not simply sit back and defend when they face Barcelona at Camp Nou on Tuesday night.

The Gunners head into the second leg of the UEFA Champions League last-16 tie with a 2-1 aggregate advantage having clinched victory over the Spanish giants at Emirates Stadium three weeks ago.

But 19-year-old Wilshere, who has declared himself fit for the clash after shrugging off a slight knock picked up against Sunderland at the weekend, is adamant his side will not be playing for a draw.

He said in The Sun: "We know we can beatBarcelona. We did that at the Emirates. Beat them again and we know we have a good chance of winning the tournament.

"We will go there with confidence but realise we have to defend well and hit them on the counter-attack.

"If we get a goal, they will have to come at us. We can win there.

"We do not want to go to Barcelona looking for a draw. It will be an open game and we will create chances. We are looking to score and then see what happens.

"We have shown we have the character to come back from a goal down against the best team in the world and are going there with a massive amount of confidence."

Gunners captain Cesc Fabregas is racing to recover from a hamstring injury in time for the showdown, and Wilshere admits his involvement would provide a huge boost.

"Hopefully, we will have Cesc Fabregas back," he said. "Cesc is massive. He is our captain, our leader and great on the pitch."

Wilshere's team-mate Bacary Sagna feels Arsenal have already highlighted Barca's weaknesses by fighting back from a goal down to win the first leg.

He said: "We saw they were not invincible. They have some weaknesses and were a bit down physically during the last 25 minutes.

"Barcelona created many opportunities and we were a little bit lucky they scored only one goal.

"But I was still reassured. Despite this goal, we did not give up and we won."