Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil spur Arsenal to do-or-die win

“They [Arsenal] are in a group where a kid friend of mine, Marco Silva, he is the manager of Olympiakos”, he said. Bayern needed to do the job. I believe we can do it.

“First of all we need to win”.

Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg extended their winning streak in the Champions League to five games with a 2-0 win over Spanish high-flyers Valencia, thanks to goals from Oleg Shatov and Artem Dzyuba.

“We know the task and for us this task has one big advantage – it is very clear what we have to do”.

Flamini was upbeat about Arsenal’s chances of advancing past the Champions League group stage for the 16th straight season.

“Sometimes we have been there already qualified”.

“Now it’s down to how well we do against Olympiakos”. “It is at least two months, but we have had so many bad surprises that I do not want to speculate more than that”, said the Frenchman.

You have to trust Uefa and organisations to do that well.

Two goals from livewire Alexis Sanchez and one for playmaker Mesut Ozil inspired a routine win over Dinamo Zagreb that, together with Bayern Munich’s 4-0 defeat of Olympiacos, wrested the Gunners’ fate back into their own hands.

With Arsenal losing three of their first four group games, all the pressure was on Wenger and his side going into the game and they started nervously with the visitors forcing a couple of early corners.

“Once it is 3-0 you are in a position where Sanchez doesn’t need to work back so you can save his energy a bit by playing him up front”.

“Giroud had a little problem with his ankle over the weekend but I chose to give [him] a breather [with Ramsey coming on for 25 minutes]”.

“They were really pressing”. They have a good chance.

On the evidence of this performance, they seem to have every chance of doing just that.

“We have to be honest”.

“It’s not easy to play against them”, Zagreb coach Zoran Mamic said through a translator.

Arsene Wenger’s men are also in the mix for the Premier League title after 13 games but have been rocked by a series of injury blows.

Even then, anything other than a victory for Bayern Munich over Olympiacos in Germany would see Wenger’s side eliminated – but they could finish third and drop into the Europa League.