Arsenal 3 Dinamo Zagreb 0: Sanchez stars as Gunners stay alive
Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal can still salvage their calamitous Champions League campaign as they prepare for today’s do-or-die showdown with Croatian outfit Dinamo Zagreb.
Mesut Ozil was singled out for individual praise by Arsene Wenger after Arsenal registered a 3-0 Champions League win over Dinamo Zagreb.
And with Olympiakos losing at Bayern Munich, Arsenal will reach the knockout stages if they can secure a 2-0 victory in Greece on December 9th, with a 3-2 win also enough to see them through.
“We’ve been hit very hard in November because until the Sheffield Wednesday game in the League Cup we had a good record, but since we have lost a few players”, said the Frenchman.
The Gunners did their job with Ozil and Sanchez putting them two-up in the first half, before the latter added a second to kill the game off with just over 20 minutes remaining.
Gabriel says he’s not thinking about Arsenal potentially dropping into the Europa League, claiming his sole focus is on beating Dinamo Zagreb this evening.
The Gunners would have been eliminated if they had failed to beat the Croatians at the Emirates Stadium, or if Olympiakos got a draw against Bayern Munich.
Arsenal need to win tonight and away to Olympiakos to stand any chance of progressing, and online bookmakers NetBet think they’ll claim the three points tonight to keep their dreams alive.
Wenger is confident that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain will be back for the Olympiakos match and he believes that Theo Walcott may also return within two weeks.
Asked to explain the Gunners’ troubles, Pires told Omnisport: “First, this is simple and we have evidence that when you play against Zagreb, for example, you always have to attack”.
If they take at least four points from their final two games against Maccabi Tel Aviv and Porto, they will qualify irrespective of what happens elsewhere – and in various permutations could even top their group. Then of course I couldn’t take Sanchez off. We now have five days to recover anyway.
“I believe the speed of our movement and passing gave Zagreb a problem”, he said.
Dinamo have publicly backed Ademi and coach Zoran Mamic hinted his player was given a more severe punishment because he did not play for one of Europe’s big clubs. “We still have a strong chance but it will be very tight now”.