Wenger raises the stakes ahead of AZ clash

By Brian Lofrumento | 3rd November 2009

Wenger raises the stakes ahead of AZ clash | read this item

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has raised the stakes ahead of his side’s clash with Dutch club AZ Alkmaar in the Champions League on Wednesday. Wenger has demanded that his team finishes first in their Champions League group, and has explained that the semifinals are no longer good enough for the Gunners.

“We want to finish first in the group and that will not be done on Wednesday but we can make the first step, to win and qualify,” Wenger said.

“That will be a big step but you know we were warned at Alkmaar that this team has quality, that, in my opinion, they focus highly on the Champions League.”

“I consider ourselves as an elite club because we are in the top seeded eight of Europe and we are as I have said with only two clubs who have achieved 12 consecutive times to play in the Champions League, so we are an elite club,” he said.

“You do not only want to participate. We have been in the final, we have been in the semi-final and at some stage I think being here every year we will win it.

“We have to show that we can focus every three days, that we can play for each other every three days all along the season, that we can prepare every game with the same kind of conscientious attitude and that we can win.

“That’s a lot of things that we have still to accomplish. It is in front of us and for example we have to show that we can go into the game with the same seriousness that we have done on Saturday against Tottenham.”