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| Arsene Wenger's job may be on the line as Arsenal seek to correct their Champions League form |
ARSENE WENGER has vowed to attack Bayern Munich tomorrow night in the 90 minutes that will decide Arsenal's Champions League fate.
The Gunners will go into that Emirates Stadium showdown in excellent domestic form having seen off Watford with a triple salvo of late goals.
That added to high-scoring domestic wins over Leicester and Manchester United: Wenger cannot be ignored when he claims Arsenal really are title contenders this term.
But defeats by Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos interspersed between impressive Premier League displays mean the Gunners will be all but out of Europe this month if they slip up again.
"The confidence level is there, the required result is there as well," said Wenger. "We know exactly what is needed - a 0-0 is not even a good result. To score goals, we have to attack.
"What we want to do is play up to our level because that will be needed against a big team."
Arsenal have made a habit of defying expectations but Wenger admitted those first two defeats were their own fault. "It is true that it happened before but we want to do it again because we feel a bit that the pain inflicted was a bit by ourselves, maybe subconsciously we thought, 'anyway we will win these'. Now to correct we need a great performance."
Watford gave the Gunners a testing 90 minutes and it was not until the 62nd minute that Alexis Sanchez broke the deadlock. Mesut Ozil then set up substitute Olivier Giroud for the second and Aaron Ramsey netted his first club goal of the season to sink the Hornets.
The one and only disappointment for the visitors was an anonymous showing up front by Theo Walcott.
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| Ramsey's goal was his first of the season for the Gunners. It came from his 27th shot. |
Giroud has served his one-match ban following his senseless red card in Zagreb and Wenger could be tempted to give him a recall.
Walcott was adamant that whoever plays Arsenal could get the result they needed against the German champions. "We just need to move on from the first couple of results," he said. "We know we are capable of getting results against Bayern Munich and we obviously want to put things right.
"We just need to work hard and that is what it comes down to because we know the talent is there and it has always been there."
Watford are not in any relegation danger despite the defeat and Troy Deeney said: "We were good for 65 minutes, more than held our own and created a lot of chances but one counter-attack and that's the difference.
"All three of the goals were scrappy and it's a bit harsh in that sense but that's the fine margins of the Premier League.
"Let's be realistic, we've just come into the Premier League, we're not expected to just go and beat Arsenal. We gave the fans something to cheer about and showed what we can do. The challenge for us now is to make that 65 minutes last 90 minutes against Stoke away."
Watford (4-4-2): Gomes 7; Nyom 7 (Berghuis 69, 5), Prodl 7, Cathcart 7, Ake 7; Anya 7 (Paredes 81), Capoue 8, Watson 6, Abdi 6 (Ibarbo 75); Deeney 7, Ighalo 7.
Booked: Gomes, Nyom.
Next up: Stoke (a)
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Cech 7; Bellerin 7, Mertesacker 7, Koscielny 9, Monreal 6; Coquelin 6, Cazorla 8; Ramsey 7, Ozil 8 (Arteta 81), Sanchez 9 (Oxlade-Chamberlain 80); Walcott 5 (Giroud 64, 7).
Booked: Mertesacker.
Next up: Bayern Munich (h)
Referee: M Jones (Chester).
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