Robin van Persie will start for Arsenal

Mikel Arteta, Abou Diaby and Yossi Benayoun have now joined Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and Aaron Ramsey on the treatment table, while Tomas Rosicky faces a late fitness test to determine whether he can play against the Italian’s on Tuesday night. That leaves Alex Song as Arsenal’s only recognised central midfielder, meaning Wenger may be forced to abandon his usual 4-5-1 formation, and adopt a 4-4-2 system in an attempt to fire the Gunners back into the last-16 tie. Arsenal trail 4-0 from the first-leg in the San Siro, but despite the odds being stacked against his side, Wenger is adamant the Gunners will fight to the end, and has pledged to field his strongest possible starting XI against the Rossoneri. ‘It is not an argument for us,’ said the Frenchman. ‘We want to have a real go, we want to make it possible. ‘I would not be very credible to tell you we want to score five goals and then leave Robin van Persie out. ‘We will not accept going out of the Champions League because we want to stay in. We will give it our best shot.’ Milan will travel to the Emirates with their own problems, as Alessandro Nesta, Clarence Seedorf, Mathieu Flamini, Kevin Prince Boateng, and Alexandre Pato have all been left out of the squad due to injury. However, manager Massimiliano Allegri remains confident his side can progress, and has even offered the north Londoners some tips of how they can hope to match Milan’s level of performance. 'For me it's impossible to win the title or Champions League without signing big players. You will never do it without big players,’ said Allegri. ‘That goes for Arsenal, Milan or any big club. You must buy big. ‘I have a strong team but in that I have three big players, bringing experience, character, technical ability and leadership. 'You need leaders. For me in every team there are two leaders. One technical and tactical leader and one with character. 'In Milan our technical leader is Zlatan Ibrahimovic. In terms of character, until last year, it was Rino Gattuso. Now Mark Van Bommel or Thiago Silva. 'It's not fair to criticise Wenger so much and it is not right, because every year Arsenal sell one big player or two big players and the team still manage to play well and finish in the top four. 'But it's also true that if they want to win trophies they have to keep their best players. And make two or three big signings. If somebody told me this summer we have to sell Zlatan and Kevin Prince Boateng I would say no. No. Noooo...'