Arsenal will begin their 2 legged last-16 Champions League clash, against Monaco on Wednesday night at the Emirates Stadium.
The tie carries extra significance as it sees Arsene Wenger go head to head against his former club, with who he won both the league and French cup once in his 7 year managerial reign. Having already faced Monaco in the Emirates Cup last summer, the Gunners must tackle the French side again, but this time under more competitive circumstances.
Leonardo Jardim’s Monaco have had an upturn in form recently, which has seen them rise to 4th in Ligue 1, 11 points adrift of league leaders Lyon. They also boast the joint best defensive record of 19 goals conceded, after 25 matches played. However, their goal scoring form isn’t as impressive, only finding the net 26 times so far.
These league stats are reflective of their European form in the first half of the season. Jardim’s side finished top of their Champions League group stage ahead of Zenit St. Petersburg, Benfica and Bayer Leverkusen, conceding only 1 goal but only managing to score 4.
Monaco claimed a narrow 1-0 victory over Arsene Wenger’s side during the Emirates Cup – Radamel Falcao the scorer – but now their main forwards, including former Premier League striker Dimitar Berbatov, have only managed 10 goals between them so far this season, the Bulgarian claiming 6 of those.
So to some extent, Arsenal can take encouragement from this. Perhaps the absence of the world-class talent of Falcao, who joined Manchester United on loan from Monaco in September, has affected the team’s goalscoring capabilities, but for what they lack going forward, they make up for defensively.
It might not have been Arsenal’s strongest or fittest team on the day, but the events of that Emirates Cup match still drew significant points of discussion; the midfield battle was key in that game and Arsenal came off second best, to a midfield pairing of Geoffrey Kondogbia and Tiemoué Bakayoko, who guarded their back line superbly.
These two power house midfielders pose more of a physical presence, than the likes of Santi Cazorla, Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere.
As the away side Monaco may come to defend, so it seems Arsenal will have a difficult time trying to breakdown the oppositions impressive defensive core, but Arsene Wenger’s side can take confidence in Monaco’s lack of goalscoring exploits. A home win is vital.