Arsenal will affront eliminated Partizan in London tonight. The last match-day of the Champions League is crucial for the Gunners…
In a few hours, football fans will know if Arsenal can successfully overcome tricky conditions like the one in which they are currently in the Champions League. Following two consecutive defeats in Europe, away to Shakhtar Donetsk and Sporting Braga respectively, Arsenal’s position in the competition remains uncertain ahead of tonight’s match at home to Partizan.
Mathematic calculations explain that the Gunners could not only lose out on a top spot finish, but also slip into the Europa League. However, Coach Arsene Wenger prefers to stay positive as the Gunners eye Last 16 qualification. In an interview, the French manager made sure to make his point:
“For us, it is quite simple: we want the Champions League to be an important part of our targets. We want to be in the Last 16. We want to qualify, and we want to win.
“We’ve put ourselves in a tricky position, but everything is still in our hands. We lost in Donetsk and in Braga and the fact that Donetsk have won all their games apart from the big defeat here [at the Emirates] means that they are in a strong position to finish top of the group.
“In Braga, we were a bit unlucky. When we played in Donetsk, they had a very good game.”
To conclude on this matter, the Arsenal boss revealed:
“I didn’t necessarily expect it to come down to the last game, but you’ve got to be ready for every possibility in this job. Ideally, you want to finish top of the group. But now, we just want to make sure we qualify.”
Mathematic calculations explain that the Gunners could not only lose out on a top spot finish, but also slip into the Europa League. However, Coach Arsene Wenger prefers to stay positive as the Gunners eye Last 16 qualification. In an interview, the French manager made sure to make his point:
“For us, it is quite simple: we want the Champions League to be an important part of our targets. We want to be in the Last 16. We want to qualify, and we want to win.
“We’ve put ourselves in a tricky position, but everything is still in our hands. We lost in Donetsk and in Braga and the fact that Donetsk have won all their games apart from the big defeat here [at the Emirates] means that they are in a strong position to finish top of the group.
“In Braga, we were a bit unlucky. When we played in Donetsk, they had a very good game.”
To conclude on this matter, the Arsenal boss revealed:
“I didn’t necessarily expect it to come down to the last game, but you’ve got to be ready for every possibility in this job. Ideally, you want to finish top of the group. But now, we just want to make sure we qualify.”
