Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed Alexis Sanchez has picked up a minor hamstring problem ahead of the Premier League encounter with Norwich on Sunday, but is hopeful the Chile worldwide can still play.
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With 12 points and top of the log, Bayern Munich has already secured qualification as the top position the only slot up for grabs is position two which is open to Olympiacos and Arsenal.
The Gunners kept their Champions League hopes alive when they cruised past Dinamo Zagreb 3-0 on Tuesday evening, with the German World Cup victor opening the scoring after heading home on the 29th minute.
Wenger insists his Arsenal side are better than the Europa League and must do all they can to stay in the Champions League.
“We had to come out of the game tonight with a chance to qualify – we needed to do the job and Bayern needed to do the job and it happened – and now I believe we can do it. We need to make sure we go there and get the result no matter how and [get] in the draw for the last 16”.
“I used Ramsey on the right because he gives us a balance, because we have Ozil who is an offensive player, we have Sanchez, we have Giroud or Walcott and Cazorla so to balance a bit defensively, I use Ramsey on the right”.
We just need to win.
“We have to go there (Olympiakos) and win, and if we are winning 1-0, then we can win 2-0”. It took us some time to score the first one but when we did we had more room. They now need to beat Olympiakos by at least two goals to ensure their progress in the competition.
Arsene Wenger has confirmed that Francis Coquelin’s injury is as bad as the club initially feared, leaving the French midfielder out for an extended period.
“You have to trust UEFA and the organisation over there to ensure it is handled well. What is also remarkable is that he goes to South America [on worldwide duty], he comes back Thursday night and on Saturday he can play without a problem, even if he’s jet-lagged”, Wenger said.
We played at a good pace, produced a game of quality that we wanted. Overall we had a game of quality that we controlled well.
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The victory means Arsenal will drop into the Europa League if they fail in their quest in Greece, with Dinamo now certain to finish bottom of Group F.
