Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has called on his young Gunners side to show their full potential in their opening Champions League Group match against Dynamo Kiev on Wednesday, with the Frenchman also claiming that the North London team “are afraid of nobody in the world.”
Wenger has seen his Emirates Stadium team recover from defeat in the Premiership against Fulham to record a resounding 4-0 victory over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park at the weekend, but despite the Gunners good form, Wenger expects a tough trip to the Ukraine, where Arsenal are yet to win in Europe.
“We are happy to play football - we are afraid of nobody in the world,” Wenger said.
“But we respect Dynamo Kiev because I feel mainly their strength is that they are very efficient as a team.
“They are a very had working team with good discipline, and they can score goals. In that kind of game you want to defend well,
“But as well we are an attacking team so we are only happy when we score goals.”
Wenger feels that things will be different this time, with the match being played in the smaller Stadion Valeriy, while the Olympic Stadium is being rebuilt in preparation for EURO 2012.
Wenger added: “Usually football in this region can be a little bit destabilising because if you do not prepare mentally well you can be surprised by the level of commitment here.
“We have had some bad experiences in this part of Europe before, but when we lacked experience we were always surprised by that level of commitment and enthusiasm we got from Kiev.
“I believe we have learnt that any place in the world is difficult and I believe mentally we can cope with that better now.”
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