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Arsenal v Partizan Belgrade: Andrei Arshavin goes on attack against Gunners' 'struggling' defence
Andrei Arshavin was the perfect diplomat in Zurich last week as Russia won the right to host the 2018 World Cup but, back in the familiar surroundings of Arsenal’s training ground, there was nothing tactful in his assessment of the team’s faltering Champions League campaign.
“We struggle all the time in defence,” said Arshavin. “We have to score more than we concede. That’s it. Of course we try to improve but we can’t.”
In fairness, Arshavin did go on to stress that the blame for this problem should be shouldered by the entire squad rather than just the defence, but it was still a devastatingly candid — and accurate — observation.
Arsenal have amassed only seven clean sheets in 24 matches across all competitions this season and, despite being top of the Premier League, they are on course to equal their worst defensive record since Arsène Wenger became manager in 1996.
Defensive lapses have certainly contributed to the successive Champions League defeats against Shakhtar Donetsk and Braga which mean that Arsenal must now win Wednesday night’s final Group H match against Partizan Belgrade to be certain of qualifying for the last 16. Even then, the chances of overhauling Shakhtar as group winners are minimal.
“We have no chance of finishing top,” Arshavin added. “Shakhtar will be first. It disappoints me. But we are not nervous at all. We have to win and we will do it. It means we will get a difficult draw, but Arsenal want to win the Champions League and, if you want to win it, you have to play the best teams. It doesn’t matter if it’s in the last 16, quarter-finals or semi-finals.”
That it has all come down to the concluding round of matches is scarcely believable given that Arsenal had begun the group with three commanding wins and a record number of goals, including a 5-1 demolition of Shakhtar.
Arsenal were then punished as Wenger took the risk of resting key players for matches in Ukraine and Portugal. “Since the start of the season I rotate for nearly every single game,” said Wenger. “The problem we have had is that in five matches after the Champions League we play away from home in the championship.
“So when we go to Aston Villa, we were in a position where we had to win. If you play exactly the same players you have more chances to lose the game. We were in a position where we could manage the position as we had nine points in the Champions League and thought, ‘OK, we can rotate.’
“It didn’t work in the Champions League, I must admit, but it has worked in the championship. We always knew we had the security of playing at home in our last game.”
There is further security in the fact that Partizan, who have scored just once in losing all five of their Champions League group matches, are the opponents at the Emirates. Even so, with Arsenal having to at least match Braga’s result against Shakhtar, it promises to be a nervous evening.
Yet in typical Arsenal style, Wenger will simply urge his players to attack, take risks and play without restraint.
“You want to play the game without fear,” said Wenger. “Fear is the best way not to achieve what you want to achieve. Risk is part of the game and you have to accept that. I have a philosophy based on risk and I know it is part of the game.
“Nine times out of 10 you win, one time out of 10 you lose. We want to stay in this competition and the players want to stay in this competition. Even losing the game we can still qualify but we do not want to envisage that.”
With Arsenal most likely to qualify as Group H runners up, a last-16 tie against Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich is now a distinct possibility. Wenger still regards Barcelona as the team to beat. “With that game against Real Madrid they said, ‘everybody, we are the super-favourites and the team which wants to win the Champions League has to knock us out.’
“That is what they said. That was the case last year too. People say Inter beat them but Barca lost it.”
Despite being taken off on a stretcher with concussion in the 2-1 win against Fulham on Saturday, Laurent Koscielny is available and, with Johan Djourou nursing a minor thigh injury, will start in central defence alongside Sebastien Squillaci.
However, there is less encouraging news on captain Cesc Fabregas who is now struggling to make his expected comeback against Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday night.
“He has a small chance,” said Wenger. “That means it is a bit under 50 per cent at the moment.”