Bridge is the crossroads

Chelsea v Arsenal: Arsenal have already collected an array of polished compliments and soon we will learn if there is to be a matching set of glinting trophies.

Tonight's Champions League quarter-final first leg with Chelsea is followed by a Premiership match and an FA Cup semi- final with Manchester United over the next 10 days. It is enough to addle the mind.

After all the gaiety and exuberance, Arsenal have come to the business end of the season. A team that sees the prospect of greatness before it must suffer from tension, and rivals will try to make their nerves jangle. There have been reports of the Stamford Bridge striker Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink accusing them of arrogance.

Squabbling would be counter-productive for Arsenal and it falls to their manager to guard his squad's equanimity.

"To repeat performances for 29 matches (unbeaten in the Premiership) you need humility," Arsene Wenger said. "There has to be respect for the game. If you think you can walk on water you will sink."

He likes to talk in such epigrams, just as he savours the trim Arsenal style. There is an ironic humour, too.

In semi-apology for devoting his leisure time last night to coverage of AC Milan v Deportivo La Coruna, Wenger explained that he can relax by "watching someone else in trouble". In a packed period, there is even less hope of the manager abandoning the television vigil at his Totteridge home.

He likes to suppose, all the same, that he can hold fast to a detachment that others have lost. "I had a very good friend who became manager of Strasbourg," recalled Wenger. "After six months, we were sitting in a car and I said, 'Can I tell you something?' He said, 'Yes.' I said, 'Please stop being a football manager.'

"You couldn't speak to him any more. If you said the weather was nice outside he would ask you what you thought of the right-back. When I am with other people I can talk about anything. When you are on your own, of course, the game comes back to you."

Wenger, with his high estimation of the Irishman, may wonder what effect Damien Duff will have for Chelsea after missing the pair of 2-1 defeats by Arsenal in FA Cup and Premiership last month.

"He adds something offensively to their squad, without a doubt, and he's a major danger," Wenger said. "I feel he's had a great season. He can run at you with the ball, he can provide crosses, he can score goals.

"He is one we have to keep quiet."

He could also speculate on the way in which Claude Makelele could choke off his team's flow.

The supreme consideration, though, will be Arsenal's bid to maintain the balance between commitment and composure. Should the side do that, as they often have this season, then the rest will take care of itself.

Despite the plethora of foreigners, Wenger realises there could be a very British fracas at Stamford Bridge, and upon being told that Manuel Mejuto Gonzalez is the Spanish referee least inclined to wave red and yellow cards, he responded with mock approval: "That's why they've sent him here.

"Referees from the Continent are less permissive and they might be surprised by some of the challenges which go on in the Premiership.

"An unknown thing in this game is how the referee will react to the English style of game."

In truth, Arsenal have to concentrate purely on reaching the level of performance that has preserved the unbeaten record in their last 16 meetings with Chelsea. "We have done it before with a big heart and by being audacious. That is what we want to repeat," Wenger said.

Dennis Bergkamp, who will be making his first start in a Champions League away game for 13 months, can help with that. He is expected to partner Thierry Henry, with Jose Reyes on the bench.

Wenger is still without Sylvain Wiltord and Ray Parlour, but Martin Keown is in the squad.

It makes sense to show an adventurousness away from home that might, for instance, bring the fourth successive 2-1 win over Claudio Ranieri's side this season. Arsenal ought to be bold, having had a three-year wait since the club's only other appearance in a Champions League quarter-final.

After the loss on away goals to Valencia then, a frustrated Patrick Vieira was despondent, bitter that he seemed to be at a club that lacked the means to excel. Everyone's perspective has since altered, and Wenger can laugh at rumours that link him with Chelsea. "I am strongly linked with my job here," he said.

Wenger understands, too, how hollow it would be to keep on expressing fellow-feeling for Ranieri. "You can have sympathy and still do your maximum to win the game," he said. "If you play tennis with your wife you can love her to death but still want to win."

Guardian Service

PROBABLE LINE-UPS

ARSENAL: Lehmann; Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole; Ljungberg, Vieira, Edu, Pires; Reyes, Henry.

CHELSEA: Ambrosio; Gallas, Desailly (Huth), Terry, Bridge; Geremi, Makelele, Lampard, Duff; Mutu, Crespo.

Referee: M E M Gonzalez (Spain)