Looking ahead to Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League fixture, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger spoke at a news conference and claims that his side must go into the game with Olympiacos with the attitude that it is a must-win fixture.
Yes, you sum it up well [it is must win].
You have to win your home games if you want to qualify from the group stage, it is simple as that. We cannot afford to drop points now against anyone at home.
With their upcoming Barclays Premier League clash with league-leaders Manchester United this weekend, Wenger has explained that he will not rest players to save them for the game and will instead look at how his team have performed in the last couple of fixtures to determine who is selected.
The game will not interfere with that at all. It is more the games we played before that could have an influence.
Some players had two tough games at Tottenham and at Leicester, where they were a high level physically.
I will have to analyse that today and make my decisions.
When asked to reflect upon his side’s defeat in their opening Champions League fixture, Wenger claimed that the team selection wasn’t the issue and argued that the loss was down to bad luck on the night.
I don’t believe it is down to selection at all, I believe that the 20 players I have available can play in every single game. I close my eyes, just take a position and I am confident we have a very strong team.
On the day [at Zagreb], basically the same team played at Tottenham and won in the League Cup in a game that was much more physical, so I believe it was just on the night that we didn’t play well.
The Frenchman also dismissed the age-old suggestion that playing away from home is harder than playing at home but conceded that the approach to home and away fixtures is very different.
It is not much different. What changes more is the attitude of our opponent. We always try to play and go forward.
At home we face maybe a different kind of problem, teams regroup in front of their box and you need to be penetrative with your passing, with your movement, and clinical with your finishing.”
With David Ospina having featured against Tottenham last week and Petr Cech playing against Leicester City, a few question marks have emerged over who is the first-choice keeper. Wenger did nothing to quash these rumours after he remained coy over who would start between the sticks against Olympiacos.
I have not decided yet.
Arsene Wenger will have been bitterly disappointed not to have claimed points against Dinamo Zagreb and so will be looking at his side’s upcoming game against the Greek champions as a springboard to help them kickstart their Champions League campaign.
