Arsenal warned of tough Champions League test by Monaco star

While the Arsenal fans are all very happy about today’s Champions League draw which saw the Gunners drawn against the French club Monaco, we must still remember that they did qualify at the top of their Champions League group and that is something that Arsenal have found very difficult in recent years.

So although Monaco are the least favourite of the group winners with the bookies to win the whole competition and are also favourites to go out against us, Arsenal fans should be wary of counting our chickens. And that same message has been handed to Arsene Wenger and his players by one of the Monaco stars, Jeremy Toulalan, according to an ESPN report.

The France international midfielder and friend of our own Olivier Giroud reckons that the Gunners might find it a lot tougher than they expect to break down the defence that he provides protection for in central midfield. Having conceded just once in their six group games, perhaps he has good reason to think so. And he is not using their pre-season victory over us in the Emirates cup as an example either.

Toulalan said, “We did well against them in pre-season, though this will be a completely different challenge. For me, we have a 50/50 chance. It’ll make Arsene Wenger happy, I think, to come back here, as well as the French players in the squad.

“The Arsenal players are technically gifted and fleet of mind and foot. Of course it’ll be difficult. I know Olivier Giroud well, it’ll be nice to come up against him on the pitch. We’ll go to the Emirates with our strengths. We’re not an easy team to play against. We’ll have freshness and insouciance on our side.”

However, in the knockout phase of the UCL, with the extra importance added to away goals, the ability to break down defences is crucial and the French club only scored four goals in the group stage. Considering that they were in with Bayer Leverkusen, Zenit and Benfica, that side of their game should not concern us too much, especially if our injury list gets better.

So as long as we avoid disaster in the first leg at home and Monaco need to score in France, it should be the quarter-finals here we come. Do Arsenal have much to worry about?

Tags Toulalan Wenger

10 Comments

    1. FINALLY we get a fair draw. As long as we play our game and stay away from red cards we should be able to go through.

      1. Exactly we need to make this draw count and not be complacent. We need to look at them like there Munich and take it seriously then if (I wanna say when but…) we go through who knows what can happen
        COYG!

      2. Whilst I have also reiterated the fact that they are not a team to be overlooked, this round can be done and dusted with in the first game at the Emirates. If we get a solid 3-0 win or so we shouldn’t have too much of a worry on our hands when we visit Stade Louis. For once it might be good to have the home game first.

  1. I think 50/50 is about right

    Monaco is no Real Madrid but they are a talented team.

    I hope we have a full defense (inc Szczesny) and Ozil, Sanchez, Walcott, Ramsey, Podolski and at least either Giroud or Welbeck are ALL fit for the matches.

    Szcznesy
    Gibbs…koscielny … Mertslacker, debuchy
    Ramsey
    Sanchez …………Ozil ……….Walcott
    Podolski ……Giroud

    1. Bingo. If Arsenal have a defense (meaning, if Wenger wakes up and gets proper defensive cover) then Arsenal have a good shot. If Wenger sleeps through the Jan. window, it could get ugly.

      Remember, the last 2 years Arsenal have performed well against a very strong Bayern squad that just made it past Arsenal (on goal difference I believe).

  2. This is a reply to jonestown1 whom I couldn’t reply yesterday-

    Hiii jonestown1. Sorry I couldn’t reply to yesterday. Yes my calculations are 100% accurate. Just for instance if you see, the probability of Brayen drawing us were 1 in 5. (They couldn’t draw Schalke, Leverkusen and Manchester City). But us drawing them were 1 in 6(as you correctly pointed out). I will spare you the calculations but show you a simple solution (but first you need to understand that the draw doesn’t revolve around any club).

    Example 1-
    1. Chances of Brayen being picked in the 1st chit = 1/8
    2. Chances of Arsenal being their opponent = 1/5

    Example continued-
    1. Chances of Real Madrid being picked in the 2nd chit- 1/7
    2. Chances of Arsenal being their opponent- 1/6

    You see the higher difference in probabilities? This is just a small example. It involves various permutations and combinations. Probability is never that simple.

    Even though your 1/6 thinking is very logical but that is not the how it works.

    Hope I was able to help. 🙂

    P.S.- You should comment here more often. I love your views/takes on/about us.

  3. The last thing we need is our players saying how thankful they are with our opponents being drawn. Just before the stoke game our manager rubbished them… hence only making matters worse by stoking the fire. Monaco will prob have news articles on their changing room wall with tweets of how the Gunners joyously celebrated their luck. I pray our manager or players dont repeat the stoke fiasco cause every year we seem to put fire in their desire to beat us.

    If we take them seriously and show respect when talking of their threat, i predict we will stuff them 5 to nil. Seriously though i hope we will be very professional and show the Arsenal class which we are famed for.

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