Arsene Wenger says Arsenal must secure a maximum nine points from their three home Champions League games, starting with a victory against Olympiacos tomorrow night.
The Gunners were downed 2-1 by Dinamo Zagreb on Matchday 1 and know that with a tricky double-header against Pep Guardiola’s much fancied Bayern Munich on the horizon they need to get points on the board if they’re to maximise their chances of qualifying for the knockout rounds.
“You have to win your home games if you want to qualify from the group stage, it is simple as that,” Wenger told media on Tuesday. “We cannot afford to drop points now against anyone at home.”
He continued: “Olympiacos dominates their league, they are a team with a big advantage – they dominate their league easily, so they can prepare for these kinds of games.
“They are well organised and have some players who know the Premier League, like (Esteban) Cambiasso and (Pajtim) Kasami who both played in England.”
Arsenal will be without Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta – both picked up muscle problems in the trip to Leicester – while Olivier Giroud is suspended. Having cited fixture congestion as a reason to rotate in Croatia the boss stressed that tomorrow’s team will not be dictated by Sunday’s visit of league leaders Manchester United.
“We play on Tuesday night and then Manchester United on Sunday, five days is no problem. It is more about what happens before.
“Some players had two tough games at Tottenham and at Leicester where they were a high level physically. I will have to analyse that and make my decisions.”
Francis Coquelin is back in training after recovering from the knee problem sustained at Chelsea but there’s a chance Wenger could utilise Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain in midfield if playing the Frenchman is deemed risky.
That includes the one against Bayern Munich; I believe.
They’re a worse team under Pep and we’re better than when we beat them before. Don’t scare me anywhere near as much as under Heynckes.
Tough days coming, I am sure we’re gonna make it through.
…the game against united should also be counted…
Save Coquelin for the Man Utd game.
We need him to keep their sprightly new midfielders in check and he is more than capable of doing so.
Bring him on as a sub and give home 30 mins tomorrow though.
Not if its too soon though.
I think we can absolutely hammer them even if Cazorla plays as the deepest midfielder (I doubt Ramsey could be disciplined enough to hold position). Ramsey could play as part of the double pivot, with Ox on the right. Then maybe Gabriel comes in for Per to give some pace because we’ll be susceptible to a counter attack.
I have many leatherbound books and my apartment smells of rich mahogany!
No shit. Let’s do it.
so perhaps this is the lineup:
Cech
Bellerin, Mert, Kos, Monreal (or perhaps rest one of the CBs a rest for Gabby)
Cazorla, Ramsey
Ox, Ozil, Sanchez
Walcott
5 days off after and we could have a similar team against ManURE.
Ospina might play in goal
And gab can do DM.
I’d rather see chambers there than Gabs.
Rather see chambers on the bench
Er, shouldn’t that be a minimum of 9 points? I say let’s win the rest of them – home or away!
If we can keep consistency over the next 10 games particularly in the league, we can build something.
Its good we are on the shoulder of the leaders. We do not want to peak too soon. Plenty of time left and we need to improve more.
I don’t know if the Leicester game is a good one to go off. They, unlike most teams, really had a go and tried to play football against us which lead to an open game that ultimately suited us more than them. Coming to the Emirates that’s not likely to happen and the onus will almost always be on us to be the aggressors, we need to learn how to do that without being suicidal.
There better be no rotation. It’s the champions league for ffs. We made the same mistake against Zagreb.
Thumb me down if u want……
But here’s tomorros line up
Ospina
Bellerin Mert Gabriel Gibbs
Cazorla chambers
OX. Ozil. Alexis
Walcott
Biggest day in years coming up on Sunday
Don’t risk Coq too early, give Rambo a break….and ditto Montreal , koscelny and Petr
Trust the front four to rip the Greeks apart
Surely you need to be playing your number one goalkeeper in the Champions League
Ok the goalkeeper selection was an afterthought.
I hav no prob with that…..
However, if we bring the Coq back too early and he limps off, FFS , It’s crazy in light of Sunday.
I genuinely believe we can have a stab at the league this year