Wenger – We know what is required of us

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has revealed that his side know exactly what is required of them ahead of their crunch tie against Olympiacos.

The Gunners travel to Greece knowing that only a 2-0 win or a winning margin of one with at least three goals or more scored will be enough to progress to the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League.

Wenger has ensured his side have qualified for the knockout stages for the last 15 consecutive years and admitted that the record is an important one that he wants to keep.

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.

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. We know what is expected and we have studied Olympiacos.

Arsenal face Olympiacos on Wednesday evening at the Karaiskakis Stadium, an arena they have lost their last three games at in Europe’s biggest competition. However, Wenger understands the magnitutde of the task and claims that despite losing the ‘core’ balance of midfield in Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, he is confident his side has what it takes.

We changed the team completely [against Sunderland] because we’ve lost the core in midfield of Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin in the past two weeks, and we had to find a new balance. We were a bit insecure as well because we had not won last week. I believe [Olympiacos] is a different game psychologically, it’s clear, we just have to go for it.