Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger (L) and Olivier Giroud during a training session yesterday. (Reuters)
Reuters/Athens
Arsenal will put one of the best Champions League records on the line when they face Olympiakos Piraeus in a showdown for second spot in Group F today.
As well as competing in the tournament for the 18th season in a row, the London club have qualified for the second stage in each of the past 15 campaigns.
That run is in jeopardy, not so much due to a 5-1 hammering at group winners Bayern Munich but because Arsenal were beaten in their opening two games including a shock 3-2 defeat at home to Olympiakos.
Now they must reverse that scoreline or improve on it to preserve their proud record under Arsene Wenger who will be missing seven players including Alexis Sanchez, Santi Cazorla, Mikel Arteta and Jack Wilshere.
Wenger was particularly pleased with Saturday’s 3-1 win at home to Sunderland, a victory that lifted Arsenal to second place in the Premier League.
“For our confidence it was vital,” the French coach told reporters. “I was very nervous because I knew it was a very important game for our season.
“It is better to prepare for the (Olympiakos) game knowing we have won. The one positive thing is we know exactly what to do.
“Most of the time when we have been to Olympiakos we have not had a lot to do because we had already qualified. This time it is the opposite,” added Wenger.
It is Arsenal’s fourth visit in seven seasons and each time the game has come on Matchday Six.
DEFINING MOMENT
For Olympiakos the match is being billed by local media as a defining moment in a breakthrough year for Portuguese coach Marco Silva.
The 38-year-old has led the Greeks to 12 successive Super League victories since the season kicked off as they chase a host of club records.
Silva has also won widespread praise for the European performances.
Greece midfielder Kostas Fortounis, one of the outstanding players for Olympiakos this season, is relishing the game with Arsenal.
“This is a showdown, no doubt about it, out of which only one team can claim qualification to the next stage,” he said after the 4-3 win at Panthrakikos at the weekend, a result that gave them a 10-point lead at the top of the Super League.
Olympiakos are relatively injury-free but Silva must decide whether to include fit-again Argentine midfielder Esteban Cambiasso in place of Luka Milivojevic or Pajtim Kasami.
Brown Ideye, who spent last season at West Bromwich Albion, will come back into the attack after being rested at the weekend.
Ozil urges for focus in ‘crazy’ atmosphere at Olympiakos
Arsenal must stay focused and not be influenced by the “crazy” atmosphere at the Karaiskakis Stadium, midfielder Mesut Ozil has said ahead of today’s make-or-break Champions League clash against Olympiakos Piraeus. The London club need to beat the Greek champions either by two clear goals, or by any margin if they score at least three times, to progress from the group stages. If they fail to do so, they will drop into the Europa League. Having lost the reverse fixture 3-2, Arsenal head into game with host of key players missing through injury, including forward Alexis Sanchez and Santi Cazorla. Ozil, who has been involved in 14 goals in his last 13 Premier League appearances, is confident the Gunners can qualify for the knockout stages for a 16th consecutive year. “It will be very, very hard. Olympiakos can play good football and we saw that at the Emirates. They want to play on the counter-attack but we can’t concede goals like we did before again,” Ozil told the club’s website (www.arsenal.com). “The fans will be behind them and our goal has to be to beat them. I have played in Greece before. I know that there will be a very good atmosphere, the fans are crazy and they really support their team right through the full 90 minutes. “We have to be focused on the game, we have to give a really good performance. “It is possible to win there with two goals in our favour and that’s what we want to do. We have to really give everything so that we can achieve this.”
