Apr 15, 2009

Arsenal won't rely on defense against Villarreal


Playing for a 0-0 draw against Villarreal in the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals on Wednesday won't be good enough for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.

Arsenal will advance to the semifinals if they can keep the match at Emirates Stadium scoreless because they earned a 1-1 draw last week in the first leg at Villarreal.

"Our approach is to win the game, we have to be as simple as that," Wenger said Tuesday. "I don't feel that we are used to going into games trying to play 0-0. Of course we will be organized and disciplined but, when we have the ball, we want to score goals."

The London club will be helped by the absence of Villarreal midfielder Marcos Senna, who scored the Spanish team's goal in the first leg but then picked up a hamstring injury in Saturday's 2-0 loss at Malaga.

Arsenal, however, beat Wigan 4-1 Saturday in the Premier League, so the team's best chance of reaching the last four may be to attack.

"We have turned the season in a very positive way and put ourselves in a great position to qualify and we want to take advantage of that," said Wenger, whose team next meets Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday. "I believe the determination, the hunger and the quality are there and we now face test after test."

Despite the absence of Senna, who was one of Spain's best players when it won last year's European Championship, Villarreal coach Manuel Pellegrini still believes his team is as good as Arsenal.

"I don't think Arsenal are a better side than us," Pellegrini said before training at the Emirates Stadium. "What we want to do is play our game and control the ball on the ground."

The winner of Wednesday's game will face either defending champion Manchester United or FC Porto in the semifinals. United and Porto drew 2-2 in the first leg and next play Wednesday in Portugal. The final is in Rome on May 27.

Arsenal forward Andrei Arshavin is ineligible for Wednesday's match because he played for Zenit St. Petersburg in the competition before his transfer to the Gunners, but the team has most of its forwards back after injury.

Robin van Persie and Eduardo da Silva are close to starting while Cesc Fabregas and Theo Walcott both played in Saturday's victory at Wigan, which strengthened Arsenal's grip on fourth place in the Premier League.

Wenger's problems are at the back with first-choice goalkeeper Manuel Almunia, central defender Johan Djourou and left back Gael Clichy injured and center back William Gallas out for the rest of the season.

Villarreal midfielder Santi Cazorla is also out with a broken leg and, although Matias Fernandez and Ruben "Cani" Garcia missed the loss to Malaga, Pellegrini recalled them to the squad and said they were fit.

"If we have to play extra time I am happy with that," Pellegrini said. "We have prepared for extra time but we will try to win in the first 90 minutes.

"We know that Arsenal have a few players who aren't going to be playing and, if they don't have them, we are going to try and profit from that."-AP

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