Gilberto wary of Liverpool strength

Arsenal FC midfielder Gilberto has warned his team-mates that Liverpool FC are a "team transformed" when it comes to the UEFA Champions League.

Different proposition
Liverpool travel south for the first leg of the teams' quarter-final tie in London without an away win over the Gunners since February 2000 and having spent most of the Premier League season trailing in their slipstream. Yet Gilberto is aware that Rafael Benítez's men are a different proposition in Europe and predicts a "very tough game". Speaking to uefa.com the Brazil midfielder, who has made five UEFA Champions League appearances this season, said: "Liverpool are a good team. They are not playing at their best in the Premier League but they seem to be transformed in the Champions League, where they look really motivated."

'At our best'
For all Arsenal's domestic success over the past decade, the 2006 UEFA Champions League finalists have yet to lift a trophy Liverpool have captured five times. "It is difficult to say why Liverpool do better in the Champions League – sometimes teams do well in one competition and not another," said Gilberto. "They have a lot of quality and we need to be aware of that. It will be a very tough game. We know them and they know us and it will be important we are at our best to win this game."

Three in a row
Arsenal won three of four meetings with Liverpool last term – eliminating them from both domestic cup competitions in the process – and drew 1-1 at Anfield earlier this season. Gilberto is hopeful Arsène Wenger's men can maintain their recent good run against the Merseysiders, whom they will face three times in the space of seven days, the home-and-away European ties sandwiching a Premier League fixture in London next weekend. "It is always difficult against Liverpool and especially this time when we'll be playing them three times in a row – in the league and the Champions League – but I am sure that we can win the three games and qualify for the next stage," he said.