The Gunners boss has called on his players to believe they can rewrite the record books to recover from their humiliation at the San Siro a fortnight ago.

In his 16 seasons at the helm, Wenger, 62, has claimed the English game's top prizes, winning the double twice and going through the 2003-04 Premier League campaign unbeaten as well as reaching the 2006 Champions League final.

However, should Arsenal achieve the impossible tomorrow, Wenger admitted that would sit right up there with the most memorable.

Asked whether beating Milan to qualify against the odds would compare with his past achievements, Wenger said: "Certainly. I would be extremely pleased and happy with it.

"I have a gut feeling the players can do it and my job until 7.45pm tomorrow night is to convince them they can do it."

Only three clubs have recovered from such a first-leg deficit in the history of European competitions, but those were back in the mid-1980s.

Milan, though, somehow managed to go out to Deportivo La Coruna in the 2003-04 quarter-finals having won 4-1 at home, losing the second leg in Spain 4-0.

Wenger added: "Sometimes when you made a big score, the difficulty is always psychological.

"When you have made a big lead, you think you just need to turn up and make sure you defend well, and the other team has nothing to lose so they just go for it."

Arsenal are short of options in midfield, with Czech playmaker Tomas Rosicky facing a late fitness test on a groin problem and Mikel Arteta needing to rest for a week after suffering a blow to the head in a collision with Jordan Henderson during Saturday's 2-1 Premier League win at Anfield.

However, the Gunners still have plenty of firepower in attack, with the likes of Theo Walcott, Gervinho and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all ready to support 31-goal skipper Robin van Persie.

"Basically I have only two midfielders, with (Alex) Song and Rosicky. That means we have to play with four strikers," said Wenger.

"But I can play six strikers if I want, I have enough, I have (Marouane) Chamakh, Park (Ju-young), Van Persie, Gervinho, Walcott and Chamberlain."

Veteran Sweden frontman Zlatan Ibrahimovic did most of the damage in the first leg as he combined with ex-Manchester City striker Robinho to stretch the Arsenal defence in the San Siro.

Wenger admits they cannot afford to give the duo the same space tomorrow, Ibrahimovic having returned from a domestic ban to smash a hat-trick for Milan at the weekend.

"If you look at the game again there was nothing spectacular in there apart from when the ball came into Ibrahimovic and Robinho, they gave us a torrid time," said the Arsenal manager.

"It is a big task to keep them quiet tomorrow."

Wenger publicly lambasted his team for a "shocking performance" in Milan.

Although the Gunners then crashed out of the FA Cup at Sunderland a few days later, they produced the required response to beat Tottenham and Liverpool which put securing a top-four finish in the Barclays Premier League back in their own hands again.

"I have always said that the mentality in this team is very good, but on the night I am sorry that we didn't turn up," Wenger said.

"I personally feel we didn't produce a performance not because we didn't want to, but because we wanted it too much."