Champions League Tonight
By: Trent | October 23rd, 2007
Arsenal resume Champions League play tonight when Slavia Prague visit the Emirates Stadium. The hosts will be heavily favored, and Arsenal already two points ahead in Group H, a win tonight would all but assure them safe passage to the knockout stage.
Arsene Wenger hopes that less nailbiting in Europe will allow the Gunners to better focus on their next two heavyweight Prem matches: Liverpool and Manchester United. Many are eying those two matches for proof that Arsenal’s young guns can’t hang in the title race this season. On the other hand, nicking some points in those two contests will go a long way to silencing the naysayers.
Slavia Prague definitely look outclassed here in the group stages. But recall that they beat Ajax just to get here. Given that, there’s no reason to discount their giant-killing potential. Bad news for the SPers, though: former Liverpool midfielder Vladimir Smicer is out injured.
But Slavia coach Karel Jarolim certainly isn’t throwing in the towel just yet:
“We may not afford to make the same individual mistakes we did in our game in Sevilla. If we do not avoid them, we may not think of any better result. Arsenal have a great team with superb attacking qualities. We must not give them any space in our own half of the pitch, our defence must be compact, but we also have to use every opportunity to attack.”
By the way, at the end of those attacking runs, it’s still not clear if Slavia Prague will see Mani Alumnia or the “humilated” Jens Lehmann.
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