It was a foul on the forward that led to Arsenal’s late victor in Saturday’s home win after Koscielny’s overhead kick had cancelled out Petr Cech’s own goal.
Advertisement
Attack: Olivier Giroud is pushing to make his first start of the new season after regaining full match fitness and I think we’ll see him come in for Lucas Perez with the Spanish striker dropping to the bench after making his debut at the weekend. “But we still want to keep giving chances to young players and keep the mixture right”.
“He is one of the longest-serving defenders and I think he is one of our best players”.
“I have to decide that [if the new signings will be involved against PSG]”, he said on Sunday.
“After 90 minutes of good work it is a big frustration”. It seemed like another disaster was set to unfold, but always reliable center back Laurent Koscielny equalized with a fantastic bicycle kick. The injury to Koscielny means that he will most likely have to turn to another summer signing in 20-year-old Rob Holding to partner Mustafi in central defence.
Wenger knows that winning Group A, and securing an easier draw, is the best way to improve Arsenal’s record of elimination at the last 16 stage in the past six seasons.
They were a bit surprised by the pace and the commitment of the Premier League, and they will adapt to that. “They adapted more in the second half”, he said.
Arsenal boss ArseneWenger insists the added maturity within his squad gives him increasing confidence that the Gunners can break free from the shackles of knockout stage obscurity and mount a sustained Champions League challenge this season. Second, stalwarts Alexis Sanchez and Giroud were on the bench, though both saw action later in the second half.
“When you lose the first home game you can not afford to drop points in the second”.
Wenger believes Perez can deliver goals for Arsenal, whose win sees them sitting sixth with seven points from four games.
Advertisement
“He was the leader, the captain, a charismatic carrier of the ambition of the club and it’s always hard to measure when you lose a player of that stature, how big the damage is. It is now important to get a result”.
