We don’t fear Olympiakos! Per Mertesacker confident Arsenal can reach the knock-out stages

Gunner do it: Mertesacker confident ahead of crunch tie
Getty
Giuseppe Muro25 November 2015

Per Mertesacker is confident Arsenal will make the most of their Champions League lifeline and qualify for the knockout phase.

Last night’s victory over Dinamo Zagreb means the Gunners will progress if they beat Olympiakos by two goals or more on December 9, or if they win in Athens by scoring at least three times.

“There will be pressure for both teams and, hopefully, we can handle that better,” said captain Mertesacker.

“We have a good chance because we believe that we can score. Last night showed we are always capable of doing that. We have dropped a lot of points but there is still a chance so we believe.”

Arsenal are aiming to qualify from the group stage for a 16th straight season and Mertesacker admits it is a “nightmare” that they got themselves into this predicament by losing to Zagreb and Olympiakos in their first two group games.

“It is a nightmare how we played those matches,” said the defender. “But we have to face the truth that we have to score more than one goal against Olympiakos. Let’s go there without fear, respect our opponents and keep patient until the end.

Arsenal vs Dinamo Zagreb player ratings

1/12

“They [Olympiakos] have more to lose because we are in a more difficult situation. We believed before last night that we were capable of doing special things.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in