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Uefa Champions
League
September 18,
2013 7:45 PM WAT
Stade Vélodrome — Marseille |
ARSENAL
Arsenal will be opening their UEFA
Champions League campaign at Marseille hoping that their experience can carry
them through a hard-hitting group.
Arsene
Wenger's side will be heading to the Velodrome Stadium for their first encounter
in Group F on wednesday and they need a win, with difficult games ahead against
Napoli and Borussia Dortmund.
Arsenal
have qualified from the group stage in each of the last 13 seasons, reaching
the final in 2005-06 and the semi-finals in 2008-09.
Defender
Laurent Koscielny is aware of the importance of beginning with a win, and feels
that their past experience in the competition could prove vital as they attempt
to negotiate their way into the knock-out stages.
"We
are experienced in the Champions League and are all looking forward to this
challenge again” Koscielny said.
"We
know this will be a big challenge for us, but we did well against Marseille and
Dortmund the last time we played, and we are confident of doing it again."
Arsenal
signing Mesut Ozil will make his Champions League debut for the club after an
impressive assist on His debut on Saturday.
Arsenal side have a long injury
list, with the likes
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (knee), Santi Cazorla (ankle), Mikel Arteta (thigh),
Lukas Podolski (hamstring) and Abou Diaby (knee) are long-term absentees, while
Yaya Sanogo (back) and Thomas Rosicky (hamstring) are both expected to be
unavailable.
The
French Forward Olivier Giroud happens to be the only senior Striker available
after he was forced to
leave the field during the closing stages of Arsenal’s 3-1 win over Sunderland with a knee injury,
but later confirmed He was ok and fit for Marseille
Clash. Read about Giroud’s fitness HERE
Arsenal
secured a 1-0 win in their last visit to Marseille in 2011 as Aaron Ramsey
scored an injury time winner.
MARSEILLE
Marseille
on the other hand, has full fit squad to begin with apart from their centre-back
Souleymane Diawara who is absence due to injury. I believe they should approach
the game with some confidence having lost just two home games in 2013.
Marseille
reached the last eight of the competition in that campaign, despite their group
stage defeat, while they won the tournament in the 1992-93 season.
They
have made a strong start to their Ligue 1 campaign, losing just one of their
first five games, and with attackers Dimitri Payet and Andre-Pierre Gignac
having scored six goals between them so far, they have enough quality to
trouble a breakable Arsenal defence.
Wenger's
side will enter the match with confidence though, as they top the Premier
League table, meaning an interesting encounter is expected to happen in France.
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