 |
| Arsenal |
Besiktas were unable to find a way through the Arsenal defence in Tuesday's first leg, which the visitors finished with ten men after Aaron Ramsey's late sending-off.
Form guide
Form guide (all competitions)
Arsenal: DDWW
Besiktas: DWW
Ahead of their trip to Istanbul, Arsenal had yet to lose over 90 minutes to Turkish sides, conceding just twice in seven meetings: W4 D3 L0 (W2 D1 L0 at home – W2 D1 L0 away). However, those games include the 2000 Uefa Cup final, which Arsène Wenger's men lost 4-1 on penalties to Galatasaray AS following 120 goalless minutes in Copenhagen.
Arsenal have never shipped a goal at home to Turkish opponents.
Before the first leg, Besiktas's record in 14 matches against English clubs read W4 D3 L7 (W2 D3 L3 at home – W2 D0 L4 in England). Those home games included a 2-0 Uefa Champions League reverse to Chelsea FC staged in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, in December 2003, due to concerns in the wake of a terrorist attack in Istanbul.
The last of Besiktas's five Uefa Champions League group stage campaigns was in 2009/10; Arsenal have featured in the last 16 Uefa Champions League group stages.
Arsenal eliminated another Turkish team in last season's play-offs, beating Fenerbahçe SK 3-0 in Istanbul and 2-0 in London.
Arsenal went into the tie having won all 12 previous Uefa Champions League play-off matches, ousting GNK Dinamo Zagreb (2006/07), AC Sparta Praha (2007/08), FC Twente (2008/09), Celtic FC (2009/10), Udinese Calcio (2011/12) and Fenerbahçe (2013/14).
Besiktas are unbeaten in their last three Uefa Champions League away games, with that run containing a famous 1-0 success at Manchester United FC in the 2009/10 group phase.
This is Besiktas's second match in London. The first was a 2-0 triumph over Chelsea, Sergen Yalçin scoring twice (24 28) as Mircea Lucescu's Black Eagles inflicted the Blues' first defeat under new owner Roman Abramovich – despite being reduced to ten men for much of the second half following the dismissal of Ilhan Mansiz. No Turkish side has scored an away goal in London in three matches since.
Arsene Wenger, Arsenal manager
Giroud will not play. He will see a specialist [on Wednesday] and afterwards we will make an announcement about how long he'll be out. It could be [a long-term injury], we will see. It's sad, but at the moment we are focused on this game.
Nothing is unthinkable because it [not qualifying] has happened to 99% of all the big clubs in Europe, but what we want is to be in there and we are highly determined to do it. We have a home game that we want to win. The task is clear and we know we can do it, so let's do it.
Experience plays a big part and we have a lot of it in the Champions League – big experience of playing in high-pressure games that we can use tomorrow. What is more important, though, is the performance on the day. It's important that we turn up and deliver a strong performance.
I'm confident this group will be strong, that it is mentality prepared, has a great togetherness and is ready for the fight. That is the most important thing – that we are prepared and ready to go out and do our best.
Slaven Bilic, Besiktas coach
It's going to be a massive game for us. We showed from our performance in the first leg that we are capable of giving them a game. We played well. We had our chances and they had theirs. We were not totally happy with the result as I think we deserved to win, but we go into this game full of confidence.
We are confident. I was confident, my staff were confident and the players were confident before the first game. Maybe before the first game some of our players had a little bit of doubt because they had not played against those so-called 'big guns', but after the game they were very confident, which I don't mind as long as you do not become big-headed.
Of course we are not the favourites. They are the favourites – they are Arsenal – but we have a dream, a hope. It's more of a plan though, and we are going to do everything we can to fulfil it. We have prepared our game, our plan. I have big belief in my assistants and they are going to do the job.
Possible line-ups
Arsenal: Szczesny, Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Santi Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sánchez, Wilshere, Özil, Sanago.
Out: Mikel Arteta (ankle), Aaron Ramsey (suspended), Olivier Giroud (ankle), Kieran Gibbs (hamstring), Theo Walcott (knee)
Doubtful: none
Besiktas: Tolga Zengin; Ismail Köybasi, Franco, Ersan Gülüm, Ramon Motta, Oguzhan Özyakup, Veli Kavlak, Mustafa Pektemek, Hutchinson, Olcay Sahan, Ba.
Out: none
No comments:
Post a Comment