adminArsenal manager Arsene Wenger has insisted “there is no team without weaknesses” ahead of the Premier League club’s crunch Champions League Group F clash with Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich. Wenger’s men go head-to-head with the German side today on the back of consecutive 3-0 victories in the top flight — but it is their European performances where the Frenchman has come under pressure.
Shock defeats by Croatian side Dinamo Zagreb and Greek giants Olympiacos has left the Gunners firmly rooted to the bottom of their group and the north London side are in desperate need for a victory today to reduce the likelihood of a disastrous early exit from the competition.
Despite the odds being against them — Bayern are flying high in Bundesliga and have won all nine of their matches — Wenger is confident the club can secure a victory. When asked about his Bayern rival Pep Guardiola, Wenger responded: “He has done a magnificent job at Barcelona and Bayern. He has a positive philosophy.’’
Ahead of the Emirates clash, Mikel Arteta, Calum Chambers, Laurent Koscielny, Mathieu Flamini and Francis Coquelin all took part in various training drills yesterday. And Wenger has claimed his side have to go all out in attack if they are to stand any hope of resurrecting their Champions League dream with victory over Bayern.
The Arsenal manager said six goals in two Premier League games, including a 3-0 thrashing of Manchester United earlier this month, had been perfect preparation for the crucial clash at the Emirates.
‘It’s a perfect run in our Premier League and also perfect preparation for Bayern because we had no injuries and got the three points,’’ he said after goals from Alexis Sanchez, Olivier Giroud and Aaron Ramsey saw off Watford on Saturday.
‘‘Now we can focus and give everything on Tuesday. The confidence level is there, we know exactly what’s needed, a 0-0 isn’t even a good result. To score goals, we’ve to attack. To be 3-0 up in 20 minutes as we were against Manchester United would be ideal but we didn’t plan that. We need to play to our level because we play against a big team.
‘‘It’s true that (we have delivered big results) before, but we want to do it again because we feel a bit that the pain inflicted (in the Champions League) was a bit by ourselves. Maybe subconsciously we thought anyway we’ll win these (first two games),’’ the Frenchman added.
Meanwhile, their German opponents arrived in London on Sunday night ahead of the Champions League group game, with Guardiola claiming the capital’s traffic was behind his decision to travel a day early.
Bayern, who made it nine league wins out of nine at the weekend as a Thomas Muller goal inflicted a 1-0 defeat on Werder Bremen, will hope to consign the Gunners to a third straight defeat in this year’s competition. — Sportsmail.
Online Reporter