Arsenal know exactly what they need to do against Olympiacos Piraeus in Wednesday's do-or-die Champions League tie and the club will give their all to qualify for the knockout stages for a 16th consecutive year, manager Arsene Wenger has said.
The Gunners need to beat the Greek champions either by two clear goals, or by any margin with Wenger’s men scoring at least three goals to progress from the group stages. If they fail to do so, they will drop into the Europa League.
“Personally the record means a lot because it’s important for the club and for the players. I want to win and I want to qualify. For me our job is to win the next game, and do what is requested,” Wenger told the club’s website (www.arsenal.com).
“There is one positive thing for us -- we know exactly what we have to do. We know that we have to go for it from the start. So let’s do that and hopefully we can get through.”
Midfielder Aaron Ramsey, who excelled playing in midfield and scored in Saturday’s Premier League 3-1 win over Sunderland, said Arsenal must not get ahead of themselves and get exposed at the back.
“It is in our hands -- we know what we have to do. We have to choose the right times to do that but we will always create opportunities -- just hopefully we can stop them, keep a clean sheet and grab a couple of goals ourselves,” Ramsey said.
“I have made no secret that I prefer to play in the middle and hopefully now I can stay there. Hopefully I can keep building on that now to play where I prefer to play.”