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| Arsene Wenger |
Arsene Wenger has vowed to field a
strong team against Galatasaray on Tuesday as the under-fire Arsenal
manager bids to silence the critics by snatching top spot in Champions
League Group D, AFP reports.
Wenger’s side have already qualified for
the knockout stages of Europe’s elite club competition, but they would
prefer to finish the group stage in first place to avoid a potentially
tricky last 16 clash.
Even more importantly, Wenger
desperately needs some good news after a chastening trip to Stoke on
Saturday ended with the Gunners boss looking a beleaguered figure as he
was abused by angry Arsenal fans while waiting to board the club’s train
home after their dismal 3-2 defeat.
An online video shows the Frenchman
being subjected to foul-mouthed taunts from fans who were clearly
unhappy with their team’s latest capitulation in a frustrating domestic
campaign which sees them languishing 13 points behind Premier League
leaders Chelsea.
A section of Arsenal’s fans unveiled a
banner asking Wenger to quit after the recent 1-0 win at West Brom and
on Saturday he was told to “f**k off and leave” by some fans as he tried
to get on the train back to London.
In the circumstances, Wenger would
clearly love to snatch top spot from Borussia Dortmund, who sit two
points ahead of Arsenal and host Anderlecht in their final group match
on Tuesday, and so he plans to field most of his key players against
already eliminated Galatasaray in Istanbul.
“We’ll go with a strong team of course, we want to win the game,” Wenger said.
“Since the start of this season we have
played seven games in the Champions League, including the qualifiers,
and we have won four. I would like to win five.
“Galatasaray cannot even get Europa
League. It’s a massive surprise because I thought they would be one of
the contenders to go through.”
Should Dortmund lose to Anderlecht and
Arsenal beat the Turks, who are already consigned to finishing bottom of
the group, then the north Londoners will take first place.
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