AC Milan and Arsenal have played six times before - with two wins for each side and two draws.

The Gunners won the most recent meeting 3-0 - but that was after AC Milan had beaten them 4-0 in the first leg of the 2012 Champions League last 16.

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at San Siro

I said it’s not the prettiest on the outside but 'La Scala del Calcio’, the opera house of football, really does take the breath away once you’re on the inside.

It’s enormous. The stands climb very steeply to the dark red metalwork around the top of the stadium and the four pillars in the corners give it a real fortress feel. It’s very imposing and you can only imagine what it must have been like when Milan were in their pomp in the late eighties and early nineties with the likes of Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi, Ruud Gullit, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten doing their thing.

Image source, BBC Sport

Jawad Kayani: We can’t question the loyalty of Arsene. He has sacrificed trophies for the development of the Arsenal brand. Success or failure are temporary things. Respect Arsene Wenger's sacrifice.

Andy Scott: Arsenal will score two away goals tonight.. Welbeck and Ozil...

James Horncastle
European football writer on BBC Euro Leagues Football Show

This will be an incredible atmosphere at the San Siro. Even at the beginning of the season when they we playing Shkendija, they managed to fill the ground as they were back in Europe for the first time in a long time.

It helps - albeit in tragic circumstances [all Serie A games were called off after the death of Fiorentina captain Davide Astori] - that they didn't play at the weekend as they’ll be fresher.

In this 13-game unbeaten run, Gennaro Gattuso has more or less stuck with the same team in Serie A, Europa League and the Coppa Italia and people wonder if they’re going to tire. I don’t think it’ll be an issue for this game.

Milan play as a team. I think they go into this as favourites.

Listen to Monday's show here.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, speaking to BT Sport: "It's a two-game tie so we need to be good on both sides, defend well first because when teams lack a little bit of confidence you need reassurance. You need everyone to do a defensive job and of course go forward and score.

"Even with the changes you have to keep your philosophy but to play well you need confidence and sometimes when you miss it you have to do pragmatic things.

"When I speak about being pragmatic we also need to fight."

Image source, Reuters

AC Milan manager Gennaro Gattuso: “Arsenal are not going through a positive period, but they have great players and have scored 18 goals in this Europa League.

"We have maximum respect for Arsenal. Only if we play a great game we will be able to avoid conceding goals.

"Compared to Wenger, I'm just a rookie. We are preparing for this match the best way we can. They are a very technical team that like to have the ball at all times. We must do well to hold them and to make them run when we have the ball."

On Monday, 88% of the Arsenal Supporters' Trust's 1,000 members voted in favour of Arsene Wenger's contract being terminated at the end of the season.

"The responses to our survey showed huge affection and respect for Arsene, but also the view that he is no longer taking Arsenal forward," said an AST spokesman.

"Our message to the club is that they must be proactive and take the decision sooner rather than later."

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at San Siro

They’ve had some players, this lot.

Seven-times European champions, second only to Real Madrid, but they’ve never won this competition, either as the Uefa Cup or now in its present format as the Europa League.

If they can do that this season then not only would it bring qualification for the Champions League but it also means Milan would join the select group of Manchester United, Chelsea, Juventus, Bayern Munich and Ajax that have won the European Cup, Uefa Cup and European Cup Winners’ Cup.

Image source, BBC Sport

Image source, Reuters

Arsenal defender Laurent Koscielny admits his side are in a "negative spiral" after a run of only four wins in 15 games.

"When you have bad results it's always bad for the team," the Frenchman said.

"We are disappointed with how we played. We need to be together. That's the most important. It doesn't matter what's going on outside.

"We are in a negative spiral and it's difficult to get out of this. We need to have positive voices in our heads because the brain dictates the body and the legs.

"We have to be positive to have a good result and step by step we will come back stronger."

Arsenal striker Danny Welbeck has been speaking to BBC Sport in an interview that will be shown in full during Saturday's Football Focus.

Here's a taster (video above)...

"We know we’re good enough players to win games we go into. When we don’t win, we’re really disappointed. There’s disappointment in and around the dressing room, the fans and the staff – everyone around the club feels hurt and we want to put it right."

Image source, Getty Images

Josh Slater: It baffles me when people are not liking that Welbeck is playing, but who else is going to play up top, Iwobi?

Paul Hopkins: Come on Arsenal get into them early and give your fans something to shout for they deserve that at least Swansea!!!

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger knows his side need to win this tournament to reach the Champions League.

The Gunners - in their first season outside the Champions League since 1997-98 - are 13 points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.

The winners of the Europa League qualify for the Champions League - something Manchester United took advantage of last season.

"This is an opportunity we have to take," said Wenger. "It increases the pressure on it even more on this competition.

"Last year we won the FA Cup, we made 75 points and missed out of the Champions League by one point.

"75 points is still a very good score that we will not reach this season."

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at San Siro

It was already buzzing outside the San Siro two hours before kick-off.

They’re saying there will be 70,000 fans inside the stadium tonight, so Gennaro Gattuso has certainly got the Milan fans believing that the good times are on their way back.

Arsenal have beaten Milan here before in the last 16 of the Champions League in 2008 and they also had one of their best ever European wins under Arsene Wenger on this pitch when his Invincibles team trounced Inter 5-1 in a Champions League group game in 2003.

Image source, BBC Sport

Stephen: On current form I have a feeling Arsenal are going to spoil my birthday with another defeat.

Tim O'Sullivan: Right Gooners, whatever your thoughts of our current problems, let's get behind the team and the manager tonight!

Ashish: An away goal in a narrow one-goal defeat would be a good result only if we knew how to defend.

Image source, Reuters

"Promoted from his role with the under-19s, many thought Gennaro Gattuso was out of his depth and that Milan were merely repeating the kind of mistakes made towards the end of Silvio Berlusconi's time as owner: appointing former fan favourites with little or no managerial experience.

"Before Gattuso there had been Clarence Seedorf, Filippo Inzaghi and Cristian Brocchi, all of them former team-mates of Gattuso.

They're fitter and stronger than under Montella and it shows. Far from reinventing the wheel, Gattuso has merely applied common sense. He asked himself: if 4-3-3 worked for Milan last year, why can't it this year? And how about lining players up in their natural positions? That ought to do the trick."

Read James Horncastle's excellent feature on the AC Milan manager.

While both clubs have been on a downward trajectory for the last few years, in recent weeks both sides seem to be heading in opposite directions.

AC Milan, managed by Gennaro Gattuso since November (more on him in a minute), are unbeaten in 13 matches - reaching the Coppa Italia final in the process - their best run in almost a decade.

Meanwhile, Arsene Wenger's Gunners have lost four matches in a row - including the League Cup final - their worst losing streak since 2002.

Lose tonight and it's their worst run since 1977 when they lost eight in a row.

Alistair Bruce-Ball
BBC Radio 5 live at San Siro

It’s not the prettiest football stadium in the world but there is a definite grandeur about the Giuseppe Meazza, named after the two-time World Cup winner who played for both Inter and Milan.

The two city rivals were due to meet each other here on Sunday but the game was postponed like all the other Serie A fixtures after the sudden death of Davide Astori. He started his career at Milan, and although he never made a first-team appearance for the Rossoneri, his name will be sung to the rooftops tonight by a packed 70,000 San Siro.

Image source, Getty Images

Francis Edwards: Baffling every time Welbeck makes the teamsheet. Wenger can find more potency in the under 12s.

Remember the days when the Milan side was packed full of household names? Not any more. But that doesn't mean they haven't got plenty of quality.

Teenage keeper Gianluigi Donnarumma and old head Leonardo Bonucci provide the stability at the back, while young forward Patrick Cutrone is the man tasked with offering some cutting edge.

Milan boss Gennaro Gattuso has named the same team which edged past Lazio on penalties in the Coppa Italia last week. The derby against Inter was cancelled at the weekend following the death of Italy defender Davide Astori.

Milan XI: Donnarumma, Bonucci, Rodriguez, Romagnoli, Calabria, Biglia, Bonaventura, Calhanoglu, Kessie, Suso, Cutrone.