Arsène Wenger admitted last night that Arsenal did not take their first two Champions League matches seriously enough this season, which has left them struggling to qualify for the knockout stage before two daunting games against Bayern Munich.
Arsenal face the first of their back-to-back fixtures against Bayern at the Emirates Stadium this evening, and Wenger conceded that they must win at least one of them to avoid being eliminated at the group stage for the first time since 1999.
Arsenal are in their predicament as a result of defeats by Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiacos, shock setbacks that Wenger yesterday attributed to complacency and a lack of focus. In stark contrast, Bayern have won their matches against those opponents 5-0 and 3-0 respectively, but Wenger is confident that his side can raise their game to the high level produced on a regular basis by the German champions, who have won all their 12 competitive matches this season since losing the German Super Cup on penalties. During that run, Bayern have scored five goals on four separate occasions, with 40 goals in all, while conceding six.
While not approaching that level, Arsenal’s recent Barclays Premier League performances have been impressive and they have scored 11 goals in winning their past three games, leading Wenger to urge his players to translate that form to the Champions League.
“I believe we have some ground to make up in Europe as we have not been at our requested level in our first two games,” he said. “Our focus has been much stronger in the Premier League than it has been in Europe, and we know in this game the focus needs to be exactly the same as in the Premier League.
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“We have the belief and confidence that we’re doing something right, so that helps. We maybe could be a little suspected in the first two games of not taking the opponent seriously enough, but this time this is not the threat. So let’s take the positives of our Premier League and get the right focus that you get when you play a big opponent. It’s a realistic statement to say we have to win one of the two games against Bayern. Maybe not even realistic enough.”
Wenger’s frustration at the Zagreb defeat, in particular, was compounded by Arijan Ademi, the Dynamo midfield player, failing a drugs test after the game. Uefa is waiting for the results of his B sample before opening disciplinary proceedings, but the result will stand regardless as only in the case of more than two players from the same team having been found to have committed a doping violation in the same competition are team sanctions imposed.
Wenger expressed frustration at such regulations yesterday, and also questioned whether the anti-doping measures in operation throughout football are robust enough.
“When you don’t play at your best and your opponent is doped, it is difficult,” Wenger said. “The rules are the rules and I cannot change that, so I don’t think the result is really under any threat.
“We have organised World Cups before now with 740 players and zero doping cases, and I don’t know if that is really a fact. I was surprised the player was Ademi because he didn’t play before he played against us. But we have to wait as well because there is a counter check to see what comes out.”
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Wenger insisted that Arsenal do not fear Bayern, despite having been eliminated by them on all four of the occasions they have met in the Champions League, including in each of the past two seasons at the last 16 stage. An away victory this evening will not necessarily condemn Arsenal to an even earlier exit, but it would put them under huge pressure before next month’s visit to Munich and reliant on good fortune elsewhere in the games involving Dynamo and Olympiacos.
“At the moment they have the best record in Europe,” Wenger said. “Maybe they are the most outstanding team in Europe. Historically they have won the European Cup how many times? Five? And Arsenal zero. So you cannot say that historically we are at the same level as Bayern. What we want is to get there.
“But the history doesn’t play the game. What will decide the game is the performance we produce. That comes from if we believe we can do it.”
While Bayern are far from a one-man team, Arsenal’s hopes may rest on their ability to contain the prolific Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 22 goals in 16 matches for club and country this season. With that in mind, Wenger will play his most experienced central defensive partnership of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, despite Gabriel’s excellent form this season.
“The best way to combat Lewandowski is for us to have the ball,” he said. “After that you have to be shrewd with him because inside the box he is outstanding — his technique, his finishing and his movement. That’s where we will need the experience of Mertesacker and Koscielny. That will be one of the important things on the night.”
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REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL
ONE
Arsenal have just managed three wins in a row by at least a three-goal margin for the first time in six years: 3-0 against Watford and Manchester United; 5-2 against Leicester City.
TWO
Arsenal, plagued by injury over recent years, have fewer senior players out (four) than Bayern (six) at present.
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THREE
In 2003-04 Arsenal took only one point from their opening three Champions League group fixtures yet still finished top by winning their remaining three games, including a 5-1 victory away to Inter Milan.
REASONS TO BE FEARFUL
ONE
Excluding games played after they had already clinched the title, Bayern have lost only two – and won 69 – of their past 77 German league matches.
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TWO
Bayern have progressed at least two rounds farther than Arsenal in the Champions League in each of the past four seasons.
THREE
While Arsenal’s record of two wins and one draw in their past six meetings with Bayern is encouraging, those results all came in two-legged ties in which Bayern progressed.