On the eve of Arsenal’s Champions League tie with Barcelona, Pep Guardiola says he admires the Gunners’ consistency at the top level and does not believe Arsene Wenger’s side are mentally weak, despite their lack of recent success.

While Guardiola has enjoyed a deluge of trophies since being appointed Barcelona coach in 2008, Arsenal have been trophyless since 2005 and were recently defeated in the final of the Carling Cup by Birmingham to once again bring their mentality under scrutiny.

Wenger’s side remain competitive on three fronts though – including the Champions League, where they approach the last-16, second-leg tie protecting a 2-1 lead – and Guardiola believes the London side could be on the brink of sustained success.

“I keep hearing about the fragility in the minds of the Arsenal players, but I do not agree,” Guardiola said. “They are competing with Manchester United for the Premier League, reached the final of the Carling Cup and a few seasons ago were in the final of the Champions League.

“Arsenal are always in the top, when you compete every season at the top, it is because they are quality. Sometimes they sell players, but Arsenal always keep the same level. Many teams arrive at the top for one year, but then are finished. Arsenal are there every season.

“For many years they have kept up there, and that is the real merit. Yes, they lack something, but they are a young team. When they win the first time, they will change the mentality, they will realise they are good.”

One player who embodies Arsenal’s faith in youth is Jack Wilshere, who has been in excellent form after returning from a loan spell at Bolton last season and surprisingly cementing a place in Wenger’s starting XI.

Guardiola admits he has been impressed by the teenage England international, who was outstanding in Arsenal’s victory in the first leg, and has compared Wilshere to the graduates coming through Barcelona’s own academy.

“Wilshere is a top player. He has been a big surprise. I did not know him at the beginning of the season,” he said. “He is an excellent player, not just Arsenal, but also for the national team. We have many players like him in our second team. It is very good news for football to have players like him.”

Barca will be without both first-choice defenders Carles Puyol and Gerard Pique for the game at Camp Nou so midfielder Sergio Busquets will partner left-back Eric Abidal in the heart of defence.

Busquets has occupied the role on previous occasions and has no problem doing so again. The Spain international has also warned Arsenal they will not have it easy when a partisan Camp Nou crowd, in excess of 98,000, gets behind the home side.

“Wherever I play, I feel comfortable with all of my team-mates,” Busquets said. “I am always prepared, and last week I played in defence against Valencia.

“This will be different from the first leg – we will have the crowd support here from the first minute. We must not be nervous, because the game is 90 minutes and even 1-0 would be good for us. It would be great to have a result like last year, but we will have to earn it if we want to be in the quarter-finals.”

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Lampard at the double for Blues

If Chelsea are to mount a belated defence of their Premier League title, they will have to play a lot better than they did at Blackpool. But crucially Carlo Ancelotti’s side showed they can still win without hitting top gear.

January’s £50 million transfer Fernando Torres may have drawn yet another blank in his fifth match since joining from Liverpool, but fortunately for the Blues they did not need his goals.

There will come a time in the run-in when the Spain striker will have to produce the goods if they are to have a chance of reeling in Manchester United’s nine-point advantage, even with a match in hand.

But at Bloomfield Road it was Chelsea’s tried and tested players who did the job, with Frank Lampard scoring twice in the second half after captain John Terry had given them the lead before the interval.

Jason Puncheon’s late goal caused a few wobbles in the visitors defence, but the Stamford Bridge side had enough experience to ensure there were no slip-ups.

The scoreline may have looked comfortable for Chelsea but, like many visitors to the seaside this season, they found themselves on the back foot for long periods in the first half.

David Carney, on his first appearance for almost a month, had a productive 45 minutes down the left wing as Jose Bosingwa found himself turned inside-out on several occasions.

The Australian tried to test Petr Cech early on, cutting the ball back on to his right foot, but could only curl a shot straight at the Chelsea goalkeeper.

Minutes later he found himself clear in the area after Bosingwa failed to win possession but opted not to shoot, mis-placed his pass and the opportunity was lost.

Blackpool looked far more the inventive team, with Chelsea’s front two of Didier Drogba and Torres – still to open his account for his new club after 406 goalless minutes of action – again failing to impress as a partnership.

However, the hosts could not make their early possession tell and Seasiders manager Ian Holloway would have been fuming with the manner in which his side conceded the opening goal against the run of play.

When Lampard swung over a 20th-minute right-wing corner, Terry easily slipped his marker to head home the simplest of chances.

The visitors briefly threatened to press home the advantage, with Bosingwa forcing Richard Kingson into a fingertip save with a left-footed shot from the right angle of the penalty area, but it was not long before Blackpool resumed control.

They were almost gifted an equaliser in the 33rd minute when Puncheon found space in the inside-right channel to skip past David Luiz and shoot low at Cech, who let the ball slip through his fingers and was relieved to see it bounce off a post.

The Czech goalkeeper was only slightly more convincing when he just managed to get a fingertip on Ian Evatt’s cross-shot to help it over the crossbar.

Chelsea finished the half as they had started it, under pressure, although Ramires’ long-range effort had Kingson diving to his right to palm his shot behind in added time.

Drogba lasted less than ten minutes of the second half before he fell under a challenge from James Beattie in the Chelsea penalty area and was replaced by Solomon Kalou.

More by luck than invention the substitution provided the visitors the spark which they had been missing for most of the game.

Within seven minutes of coming on, Kalou won a penalty when Evatt felled him in the box, allowing Lampard to put his side in the comfort zone from the spot.

Four minutes later the England midfielder slotted home his fourth goal in as many matches after Kalou again provided the through-ball. As if things were not bad enough for Blackpool, Kingson then had to go off injured and be replaced by Mark Halstead.

With nine minutes to go, substitute Matt Phillips should have reduced the deficit when sent racing clear by Keith Southern, but he flashed a shot wide of Cech’s far post.

Puncheon succeeded where his team-mate had failed from a similar position in the 86th minute, but it did nothing to ease Blackpool’s growing worries.

They have won only once in the last nine matches and have been sucked into a relegation battle, just two points above the bottom three.

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Rangers have handed young midfielder Jamie Ness his second contract extension inside four months to tie him to the club until the summer of 2015.

The 20-year-old signed an improved deal in December, but has now extended his stay at Ibrox by another two years.

Manager Walter Smith told the club’s official website: “Jamie has signed a new contract and we are very pleased about that.

“He has shown in the games that he has played for us this season that he has a very bright future so we are delighted to get him tied up on a new deal.”

The midfielder’s progress through the Murray Park academy was held up by injury, but he made his first-team debut as a teenager, off the bench in a 4-1 victory over Motherwell on Boxing Day.

He made a surprise first start in the New Year derby against Celtic, performing well despite a 2-0 defeat, and maintained a regular place in the side until being hit by a groin injury last month.

Ness netted his first Rangers goal on his ninth appearance, a spectacular 25-yard strike into the top corner during a 2-2 Scottish Cup draw against Celtic.

Smith revealed the left-sided player could return to action against Kilmarnock in the SPL on Sunday if his injury problem continued to clear up.

He added: “He has been hampered by a groin injury recently but that is clearing up and, everything going well, he might be ready to come back this weekend. He more than held his own when he came into the team and played exceptionally well for us so we were really disappointed when he dropped out through injury.

“He had not played a lot of matches in the previous two seasons because of injuries so after playing half a dozen matches or so for us we expected some sort of reaction and unfortunately we got it with the groin injury.

“So hopefully once he gets over that he can slot straight back in and if his form is anything like it was then it will be a huge benefit to Rangers.

“He is an out-and-out midfield player. His range of passing is good and he has also shown he has an eye for goal so we are delighted that he has extended his contract. It’s always good when a young player comes in and enhances your group. He has done that and I’m sure he will do it again.”

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Sevilla striker Luis Fabiano will be out of action for six weeks, after his injury was not deemed to be as serious as first thought.

Fabiano suffered a strain to his semitendinosus muscle and was forced to come off in the 2-0 loss at Athletic Bilbao on Saturday.

The striker was stretchered off in obvious agony during the second half of the match at San Mames after appearing to land awkwardly on his right leg whilst running, but will now return sooner than expected.

“Good news from the infirmary,” read a statement on the club’s website. ”Luis Fabiano’s injury is not that serious as first thought. He has suffered a strain to the semitendinosus muscle in his knee which will keep him out of action for six weeks.”

The Brazilian striker will miss key games including the weekend clash against league leaders Barcelona.

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Javier Mascherano has warned Arsenal that World Player of the Year Lionel Messi could repeat his hammering of the Gunners at the Nou Camp, or even go one better and smash five goals this time around.

Messi bagged all four in a 4-1 win over Arsenal in the quarter-finals last season and Barcelona are hoping he is in similar form in order to overturn a 2-1 deficit from the first leg, with former Liverpool midfielder Mascherano claiming that Messi could be key once again.

“Nothing Leo does would surprise me. I think he can repeat what he did last year or even go one better. We don’t know how far he can go,” he told the Sun. “Obviously 1-0 is good enough but this team does not conform or settle for anything. We certainly will treat the game to win by the biggest margin possible.”

Mascherano, 26, added: “We always play with the same intensity. The important thing is that we play in the way we are used to. Like we did in London, where I think that apart from the result it was spectacular.

“There are games where you don’t deserve to have a negative result but you leave with almost nothing. Well, it’s over now. But if we have the same intensity as we did in London we have a great chance to go through.”

Argentina skipper Mascherano helped Barcelona record an important 1-0 win over Zaragoza on Saturday after making a rare start and insists that his side are not thinking about the injured Arsenal players who will miss the game at the Nou Camp.

“Walcott and Van Persie are two important players,” he said. ”In Cesc’s case I don’t know if he will be there or not. In any of those cases they are very important players for Arsenal but also they have others to replace them.

“It’s not as if we believe Arsenal will play with eight players if they’re not there. No, they will play with 11. Maybe they won’t be at the same level – but the ones who will come in, if they are at Arsenal it’s because they have the level to be there.

“This is a hugely important game. Although it shapes the rest of the season in one competition we still have La Liga and the Spanish Cup as well. We all want to carry on and we will treat this game like a final.”

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