Pep Guardiola expects Arsenal to come out fighting in their Champions League clash at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night.
The Bayern Munich coach saw his side beaten 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium in the last round of fixtures as Arsenal reacted to losing their opening two group fixtures.
Guardiola’s side remain in a strong position to reach the knock-out stages having won their other two matches in the group while the Gunners will be up against it if they fall to defeat in Munich.
Arsenal are enjoying a good run of form as they visit Bayern for the third time in four seasons.
Arsene Wenger’s men are unbeaten in the previous two outings and Guardiola believes the Frenchman will be looking to utilise in-form striker Olivier Giroud to keep that record alive.
“They will not park the bus, but attack,” Guardiola said. “Arsenal is a top team in Europe. They are strong enough. Arsenal want to attack, but it’s difficult against us with our good pressing game.
“They have amazing players with Coquelin, Cazorla, with Ozil, with Alexis, with Bellerin.
“But they use Cech. Cech doesn’t pass the ball to Mertesacker, Cech doesn’t pass the ball to Koscielny, Cech doesn’t pass the ball to Bellerin. Instead Cech uses the long ball to Giroud, and we will have to adapt to their long balls. With our defending.
“They want to have long possession of the ball, they want to attack, they want to take the ball to win this game. But they will, Arsenal will want to attack this top team.”
Wednesday could prove to be an entertaining evening as Guardiola, too, will not be looking to simply settle for a share of the spoils.
“We lost in London, that can happen,” Guardiola added. “Wednesday is a new game and with our fans behind us we can win the game. I hope everything will be fine.
“I think we played well in London. But a defeat sometimes happens on such a high level. I’ve never gone into a game to play for a draw.
“If it should so come at the end then okay. But if you can get three points, then you should do everything you can.”
He added: “It is not easy. It is not easy to play against such a hard defence but that is what we want to do. We want to build up our game well, and create goal scoring chances, but Arsenal also want to impose their game and play well and attack.
“But in London for example, Walcott, Ramsey and Alex Sanchez started to press very well, but we managed to play the ball behind them but they played long balls to Giroud. When you press Mertesacker or Koscielny they don’t want to play.
“They want to play with all the big players they have. Arsenal want to play, but they are not able too. We play good ball possession so they have to defend, but it is not easy to play against nine or 10 players in the box.
“It is so complicated but at a big club you have to learn that. I spoke with the players and we tried to attack ten players in the box, we did it in Zagreb and against Olympiakos and Cologne but we could not do that in London.”
Bayern midfielder Thiago echoed the opinion of his manager but believes the German champions can enjoy the fact they are not as desperate for a result as their visitors.
“We have no particular pressure on us tomorrow,” Thiago said.
“The important thing is that we realise how Arsenal play, then we can be aware of it. Both teams have to score goals, so Arsenal will not be so defensive like the others.
“They want to play like us. We know that we are playing against one of the best teams in Europe, but we have the chance to win the three points.”
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