The Arsenal Blog

Milan’s start striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic remembers that Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger showed interest in him back when he was only 20 years old and playing for Malmo, but the Swedish striker rejected a trial at the Highbury and accepted a move to Ajax.

Now very close to being opponents in the Champions League Ibrahimovic is sure that Wenger will regret not being more interested in signing him when he was still a young kid.

“I shuddered a bit at Wenger’s eyes,” he said.

“He tried to, like, see through me or find out who I was deep down.  ...........Read more

Tough times arising for Arsenal as the teams who were ranked second in the Champions League group stage are no easy tasks, although there are a few weaker than the rest.

Wenger will need all the luck he can get before the knockout stage draw because Arsenal could encounter a really tough opponent if they’re unlucky enough.

By Far the toughest opponent Arsenal could face is AC Milan. The Italian side managed to qualify second after Spanish giants Barcelona, but proved to be a fierce opponent even against the team who is supposed to be the best in the world.  ...........Read more

It seems that Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger would rather have English opponents in the Champions League knockout stages than go ahead some of Spain’s big names perhaps. The French manager wishes the other English teams in the Champions League the best and wants all of them to qualify.

“I want everybody to go through,” he said.

“It is more difficult for the other teams and some of them do not have their destiny completely in their own hands, but hopefully they will all go through.”  ...........Read more

Arsenal’s manager admits that the side which will be on the field against Olympiakos will probably be more driven and thus more dangerous for the Greek side because the youth which will be used by Arsene will want to impress at every chance they get.

“It is true that some of the players [in this squad] do not play many games but they will be even more motivated to show they deserve to play,” said Wenger.

“The game will be more difficult for them than if we had brought the team who played on Saturday. I wanted to bring this team because they gave a hard time to Manchester City last week.“  ...........Read more

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger kept his promise and he left the most important players of the team at home to rest while Arsenal is making the travel to Greece to face Olympiakos for what will be the final Champions League group stage game.

Here is the team which will travel to Greece

Andrey Arshavin
Yossi Benayoun
Marouane Chamakh
Francis Coquelin
Johan Djourou
Craig Eastmond
Lukasz Fabianski
Emmanuel Frimpong
Vito Mannone
Ignasi Miquel
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain
Oguzhan Ozyakup
Ju Young Park
Tomas Rosicky
Andre Santos
Sebastien Squillaci
Thomas Vermaelen
Nico Yennaris  ...........Read more

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger made his intentions for the Champions League group stage game against Olympiakos public after the Gunners managed to secure the first spot qualification following the win against Borussia Dortmund.

As everybody expected the Frenchman won’t be wasting the energy of regular first team players on a game which has no real stake, so we can expect the likes of Robin Van Persie, Ramsey, Song, Arteta or Theo Walcott to be rested and some of them won’t probably even make the bench.  ...........Read more

Arsene Wenger is proud about being the manager of the first English team to go through the Champions League group stage. He managed to qualify in front of City and United despite the very bad start of the season, and now he confirmed once again that Arsenal are back on the right tracks.

“Yes – I have to be very cautious what I say.

“I think yes as Manchester United could have qualified [on Tuesday] night, and of course everyone expects Manchester City to qualify.

“It is difficult at that level. I have never played an easy game in the Champions League.  ...........Read more

Arsenal’s manager Arsene Wenger spoke at the press conference about the importance of the Champions League group stage double against French side Olympique Marseille. The Frenchman admitted that Marseille is a tough opponent and that Arsenal could have problems going through the group stage if they don’t manage to pull at least 4 points out of this double.

“The two games against Marseille will decide our qualification,” the Frenchman said. “If we take four points then we will qualify.”

“They have a similar run to us – a disappointing start in the championship and they have done well in the Champions League. It is exactly the same.  ...........Read more