Arsenal manager tells his young team not to be cocky

LONDON: Arsene Wenger has told his Arsenal players they can effectively clinch their place in the Champions League knockout stages as long as they don’t get over-confident against Slavia Prague today.

Wenger’s side have won their opening two Group H matches and another three points at the Emirates would leave them within touching distance of the second round.

After surging to the top of the Premier League and their European group during an 11-match winning run, Arsenal are heavily favoured to beat the Czech League leaders.

It would be easy for Arsenal’s talented young side to think they have to do little more than turn up to secure another win. So while Wenger paid lip service to Slavia’s ability to trouble his team, the Gunners manager believes the biggest obstacle to overcome is complacency.

“If we win tomorrow 90% of the work is done. It is a good mental test because we will see how we cope when we are favourites,” Wenger said.

“Sometimes the games that look easy at the start turn out to be the hardest. That is what we learned from last season. It is a tricky tie because you could think because we have beaten Sparta Prague we will beat Slavia Prague. We are the favourites but Champions League competition doesn’t work like that.

“We had problems to beat Steaua Bucharest. We had to dig very deep and they have beaten Steaua and scored two goals at Sevilla. If we are not focused we will have big problems with them.”

If Karel Jarolim’s side manage to keep Arsenal at bay early on, Wenger believes Theo Walcott has developed into the kind of impact player who can break the deadlock.

“I feel he has qualities that are very important for a striker,” Wenger said. “The timing of his movement is good, the quality of his movement is good.

“So overall I feel he has made good progress recently, even if at the start of the season he had to be a bit patient because it took him sometime to get back to his level. He has made more progress and moved forward.

“At his age you can only improve if you work in a dedicated way. He applies himself very well in training.

“Between 19 and 23 a striker moves forward. Look at how Robin van Persie arrived here and how he is today.”

While Arsenal are on their best winning run since 2002, Wenger believes there is still room for improvement.

He is impressed with the way they have cut the lapses in concentration that proved costly last season, but he wants his players to be more ruthless in front of goal.

“We still have to improve because I feel this team is 80% of its potential,” Wenger said.

“We are stronger because our team-work is better and we have learned from our mistakes. We conceded a lot of goals from counter-attacks and set-pieces.

“The challenge is to get the best out of them. That is down to humility, attitude and mental quality.” – AFP