Arsenal stay alive in Champions League

Arsene Wenger insists Arsenal will complete their Champions League escape act by securing the result they need against Olympiakos to reach the last 16.

The Gunners kept alive their hopes of staying in the tournament on Tuesday night thanks to Mesut Ozil’s opener and a brace from Alexis Sanchez as they sealed a comfortable win at the Emirates Stadium.

The Greek side were crushed 4-0 by Bayern Munich on Tuesday night in the other Group F game, which means that Arsenal travel to Olympiakos on 9 December with a clear understanding of what is required.

Gerrard told BT Sport: “This Arsenal team is littered with world-class players and good players but they just seem to always fall that tiny bit short”.

“We need to make sure we go there and get the result no matter how and (get) in the draw for the last 16”.

“It will be tough but I have to believe we can do it”.

Mathieu Flamini is adamant that he will be physically ready during the next three months to prove his critics wrong and help maintain Arsenal’s Premier League title challenge in the absence of Francis Coquelin.

The German champions, who had defender Holger Badstuber, back from injury, sent off early in the second half with a straight red card, were unstoppable in the opening 20 minutes, scoring three times to put the game to bed early. It is a nightmare how we played the first two games. “Of course it is vital to score the first goal”.

“We have Giroud and Alexis so at the moment all these strikers are needed”.

Aside from hoping Portuguese countryman Silva gets one over Wenger, Mourinho must contend with the potential loss of John Terry after he was carried off during the win in Israel with an ankle injury.

Before today, Arsenal looked like they were nowhere near advancing to the knockout stage.

Wenger was thinking of substituting him after Arsenal went 3-0 up but had reporters laughing when he said, tongue-in-cheek: “I didn’t take him off because a break makes him exhausted”.

The Gunners have scored at least twice in seven successive Champions League group stage matches at home. It gives us a chance.

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

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