Martin Keown shares what he’s noticed about Arsenal’s players ahead of Porto clash

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In just a few hours, Arsenal will contest arguably the most important game in their recent history.

The Gunners will host Porto in their Champions League last-16 second leg at the Emirates Stadium.

Since returning from their warm-weather training camp in Dubai, Arsenal have been almost flawless.

The one flaw came in the Champions League last time out, with Porto claiming a late 1-0 win against the Gunners.

Arsenal were closing in on a 0-0 draw in Portugal, only for a late stunner from Galeno to break Gunners hearts late on.

Arsenal legend Martin Keown has now shared what he’s noticed from the Gunners group ahead of the match.

Namely, that there’s no fear among the Arsenal players and they all seem positive.

TNT Sports pundit Keown believes the Gunners will hold firm amid the pressure to deliver on the night and in the tie.

“It depends how you see pressure,” said the Highbury icon, as transcribed by the Daily Express. “Mindset is really important, you train yourself to love it.

“Your whole career you’ve looked at other players and thought ‘this is where I want to be’ – so you can’t play with fear, you love it.

“It’s a totally different emotion. Then generally everything comes good for you. But you can’t fear it, otherwise everything might go wrong.

“I don’t smell any fear within the Arsenal group. They look very positive and I hope it’s going to be a very good night.”

Optimism at Arsenal ahead of Champions League crunch clash against Porto

Arsenal certainly have what it takes to get the better of Porto. However, games aren’t won on paper, as we saw in the first leg.

Let’s hope the Gunners can get an early goal in and cancel out the visitors’ strike from the first leg. This should then place the pressure firmly on the away side.