Wenger confident of Arsenal upset against Bayern

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is confident the Gunners can cause an upset against Bayern Munich and open their Champions League account when the German champions visit the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

Arsenal’s hopes of advancing from the group stage of the continent’s premier club tournament for a 16th straight season are dangling by a thread after damaging losses to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos Piraeus in their first two fixtures.

If the North London club were to lose again, it would be difficult to see them advancing and they cannot afford to drop any more points when Bayern visit for the third time in four seasons.

The home side’s defence will need to be at their very best to keep Bayern in check with in-form striker Robert Lewandowski, who has scored 22 goals for club and country this season leading the German side’s attack.

Arsenal, however, will be banking on their own red-hot marksman Alexis Sanchez to continue his fine run of form to give them the edge after the Chilean forward took his tally to 10 goals in six matches with a strike against Watford on Saturday.

Wenger believes his team have the right confidence levels after their run of impressive results in the Premier League, including a 3-0 win over Manchester United before the international break and an identical victory over the Hornets.

“It is true that [we have delivered big results] before, but we want to do it again because we feel a bit that the pain inflicted [in the Champions League] was a bit by ourselves,” Wenger told the club website.

“Maybe subconsciously we thought ‘anyway we will win these [first two games]’,” the Frenchman added.

“Now to correct that, we need a great performance. What we want to do is play up to our level — that will be needed because we play against a big team.

“The confidence level is there, the needed result is there as well — we know exactly what is required [because] a 0-0 is not even a good result. To score goals, we have to attack.”

Barcelona can take a big step towards the last 16 of the Champions League for a 12th consecutive season when they travel to face BATE Borisov in the cold of Belarus tomorrow.

The depleted Catalans will again be without Lionel Messi and Andres Iniesta, but can count on an on-fire Neymar after he smashed four past Rayo Vallecano in a 5-2 win on Saturday.

Barca boss Luis Enrique described the Brazilian star as “unstoppable” as he has taken on the responsibility of leading the European champions in Messi’s absence.

The player himself proudly declared his performance against Rayo as one of his best for the club, as he left the Camp Nou with the match ball signed by all of his teammates at the weekend.

“Hopefully Neymar doesn’t stop and we have to sign a lot more balls for him,” said midfielder Ivan Rakitic.

Messi scored twice when the sides last met in Belarus four years ago as Barca cruised to a 5-0 win.

However, the impact of injuries to the Argentine, Iniesta and Rafinha, allied to a one-year ban on registering new players has left Barca with a very stretched squad for a run of six games in 19 days.

A come from behind win against Bayer Leverkusen in their last European outing did at least put Barca back on course for the last 16 after opening their campaign with a 1-1 draw away to Roma.

Enrique’s men will be expected to pick up six points from their two clashes with BATE in the next fortnight with the safety net of knowing Messi will be fit for their final two group games at home to Roma and away to Leverkusen.

“We need to recover well, we have a lot of games in a row and that means we are doing well because you are in all competitions,” added Rakitic.

“We will prepare well for Tuesday [tomorrow] and if something hurts a little you just have to grit your teeth and keep going. That is all we can do.”

BATE go into the game against the Spanish giants full of confidence after sealing a 10th consecutive league title on Friday with 2-0 win over Vitebsk.

The Belarusians are also well in the fight to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in their fifth year in the competition.

A 3-2 win over Roma last time out means Alyaksandr Yermakovich’s side are level with Leverkusen in second place in Group E, just a point behind Barca.

BATE also have Champions League winning experience in their ranks in the form of Alexander Hleb, who was part of the Barca squad that won the competition in 2008/09.

Fragile Chelsea face tough

Chelsea enjoyed a somewhat fortuitous return to winning ways when they beat Aston Villa on Saturday but their fragile self-confidence will face a far more severe test at Dynamo Kiev in the Champions League on Tuesday.

After their worst start to a domestic league season for 37 years, Jose Mourinho’s men travel to Ukraine for their Group G qualifier having won one and lost one of their two games.

Dynamo top the section with four points, the same as Porto, followed by Chelsea on three and Maccabi Tel Aviv on zero.

A win against Kiev will not only help swing the initiative in the group Chelsea’s way, but also prove they may be getting back on track after their below-par campaign so far.

Their unexpectedly poor form this season has been down to a lack of goals, the underperforming midfield partnership of Cesc Fabregas and Eden Hazard, unusually bad defending and Mourinho’s conflicted persona, which has seen him fall out with the club doctor, criticise his players in public and fined £50,000 ($77,195.00) by the English FA for comments about referees.

Whether they can retain their Premier League title after taking just 11 points from their opening nine matches, let alone reach the latter stages of the Champions League, is doubtful but they got lucky with both goals in Saturday’s 2-0 win over Villa.

However, on such things seasons turn.