Champion’s League Match Preview: Arsenal v Olympiacos; Can’t Be Complacent

The grandest of all club competitions, takes center stage again at the Emirates as the Champion’s League returns. However, while Arsenal looked a likely bet for at least second in the group, their lackluster performance and loss to Dynamo Zagreb in match day 1 has turned this match into a must win for the Gunners.

In their first trip of the Champion’s League season, Arsenal simply failed to show up. There was no urgency and the magnitude of the event seemed to beyond their comprehension. In the end the 2-1 result was justified as Arsenal simply were not at the races that day.

To say that they can ill-afford a similar approach for visiting Olympiacos, would be an understatement. Arsenal need a minimum of 9 points to be considered for moving on to the knock out stages. That means they must win at home against Olympiacos and Dynamo Zagreb and away to Olympiacos. Of course they could take points off of Bayern Munich, but if you’ve watched the Germans recently, you’d know that is close to unlikely.

So the focus has to be on the matches they can definitely win. That starts tonight. A marked improvement in approach will be needed because let’s face it, the book is out on Arsenal. Teams now know you keep the middle compact and force them to pass around the outside. You take the middle away from this team and it’s difficult for them to score.

Sure, we can be patient and look to exploit gaps in the opposition’s defense. However, it has to be done with some level of commitment and urgency. In the loss to Zagreb, we never seemed to get into the match and rise to the level needed for the occasion.

With our backs against the wall it’s time for that change.

That requires the requisite level stars to start delivering. Also the manager needs to not tinker with the squad. Understandably, we need to rotate but some rotations at Zagreb were unnecessary – namely the change from Cech to Ospina.

Rumours are already circulating that Ospina will start over Cech. You have to wonder why. Over at Arseblog and in some media outlets, speculation is that Cech may be carrying some sort of injury which means he is being managed. Why else would you rotate keepers at this point?

The match may be coming at the right time as players who were underperforming used this weekend’s tie to finally show up to the season. Alexis Sanchez was at his absolute best and Mesut Özil silkily skitted through the match providing much needed creativity.

If Arsenal are going to progress from the group they need their stars to deliver. They need to come at the match with some urgency and put it out of Olympiacos reach early on. If they are forced to pass around a congested midfield then they need to change the point of attack frequently and quickly. We can’t have Theo Walcott playing with his back to goal around the 18 – that’s not his game. If we get sucked into that Theo will be useless in this match.

This will be the fourth time in seven years the Gunners and the Greeks meet. In the last outing in London (2012/2013)  Arsenal went on to win 3-1 off of goals from Gervinho, Podolski and Ramsey. It should also be noted that the season previous to that, Alex Oxlade Chamberlain scored his Champion’s League debut goal in a 2-1 win.  The interesting point about this matchup is that in the last 3 times the teams have been paired up against each other, the home team always wins the match.

They may be a familiar foe but things change over time and that means we have to approach this match as an opponent we’ve no knowledge of and attack them. TO echo the general sentiment – anything short of a win tonight will severely hamper our chances of progressing to the group stages for a 17^th straight time.

Probable Lineups:
Arsenal: Cech – Bellerin Gabriel Koscielny Monreal – Coquelin Cazorla – Ramsey Özil Sanchez – Walcott
Olympiacos: Roberto – Elabdellaoui, Botía, Siovas, Masuaku – Cambiasso, Salino, Kasami – Fortounis, Pardo –  Ideye.

Injuries and Suspensions:
Arsenal: Wilshere (leg), Welbeck (knee), Rosicky (knee) Flamini (leg), Arteta (leg), Giroud (suspended)
Olympiacos: Milivojević (suspended), Bouchalakis (left thigh), Maniatis (knee/match fitness)

Head to Head Tournament Stats:

Match Officials:
Referee: Bas Nijhuis (NED)
Assistants: Rob van de Ven (NED) , Charles Schaap (NED)
Additional assistants: Kevin Blom (NED) , Danny Makkelie (NED)
Fourth Official: Mario Diks (NED)

Broadcast Info:
UK: BT Sport Europe, 19:45 GMT
US: Fox Sports 2, Fox Soccer 2 Go, ESPN3 (Spanish), 2:45 PM EDT

YAMA Predicts:
Arsenal 3 – 0 Olympiacos. Arsenal will find their feet and continue the progress established this weekend.

MANAGER’s QUOTES:

Arsène Wenger

[Francis Coquelin has been] back since yesterday and now we have to see how he responds to two days of training. [Mathieu Flamini and Mikel Arteta] have slight muscular problems. They are not big injuries, a question of days.

Olympiacos dominate their league; they are a team with a big advantage because of that, because they can prepare for these type of games. They know how to compete in the Champions League. They are well-organised and they have some players who know the Premier League as well.

You have to win your home games if you want to qualify from the group stage – it’s as simple as that. We cannot afford to drop points now against anybody at home.

Marco Silva, Olympiacos coach

We never start the game thinking it is impossible to get a result, we never think that way. We know it is a difficult game but it is a difficult competition. We know how big a team Arsenal are but we believe in our abilities. We are ready. Against Bayern we played well and we were competitive but the result didn’t reflect that.

If you asked who would be the top two teams in the group, most would say Arsenal and Bayern, but football is not always like this; there is no rule that says all favourites win their games. Zagreb’s result against Arsenal has made things more difficult for us, though

Match Facts: (Courtesy UEFA.com)

• The clubs are in the same group for the fourth time in seven seasons, having also been drawn together in 2009/10, 2011/12 and 2012/13. Each of the six preceding games has been won by the home team.
• In 2012/13, the Gunners won 3-1 in London. Gervinho gave the home side the lead just before the interval, with Kostas Mitroglou equalising in added time. Second-half goals from Lukas Podolski and Aaron Ramsey secured the points.
• The Gunners’ 18th successive group stage campaign began with a 2-1 defeat at GNK Dinamo Zagreb. Olivier Giroud was sent off six minutes before half-time.
• Last term they reached the last 16 for the 15th successive season but were eliminated at that stage for the fifth consecutive campaign.
• Arsenal beat Galatasaray AŞ and Borussia Dortmund at home and drew with RSC Anderlecht to finish second in Group G with 13 points, the same as Dortmund.
• A 3-1 home defeat by Monaco put Arsenal on the back foot in the round of 16. A 2-0 away win was not enough to retrieve the situation.
• That home reverse means they have lost five and won five of their last 11 home games in the competition proper.
• Arsenal are unbeaten in eight home contests against Greek visitors, winning six and drawing two.