Arsene Wenger feels his young Arsenal side will head to Manchester United on Saturday full of confidence after sweeping past Celtic and into Thursday's draw for the group stage of the Champions League.
A somewhat controversial penalty from Eduardo set the Gunners, who were missing injured captain Cesc Fabregas - a doubt for the trip to Old Trafford - on their way just before the half hour. Emmanuel Eboue made sure there would be no comeback for Tony Mowbray's side with a neat finish before substitute Andrey Arshavin slotted in a third as Arsenal completed a 5-1 aggregate win following a fine volley from Celtic midfielder Massimo Donati in stoppage-time.
Arsenal have now won all of their four matches so far this season and Wenger said: "I am happy to go to Old Trafford because it is the first big, big test. You want always to have a high level of confidence when you go to Old Trafford, we have that at the moment."
He added: "We are now in the top, top league in Europe, with all the big names. Our team against Celtic was an average age of 23.9 years.
"That means, if we can get out of the group stage, then in six months we can be even stronger.
"That is what we want to focus on, to continue to improve our team play, the speed of our game and show that we have made big improvements come Saturday at 5.15pm.
He added: "For us it is most important to recover physically because Manchester United did not play during the week."
Wenger conceded Arsenal had been somewhat fortunate to be awarded the penalty when Eduardo went down following what looked minimal contact at best from Celtic keeper Artur Boruc.
"From outside I must say it looked a penalty but, having seen it again on television, it doesn't look to be a penalty," Wenger said.
"But I must still say that we were likely always to score the first goal because Eduardo had a great chance before the penalty and we always looked in control of the game."
Comment 5 - 24 of 24
all the diving that was done last season ronaldo must have dived 40 or 50 times i have never seen so much fuss over edw ardo dive first one im surprised he has not been sent to the electric chair or hanged put a 6 match ban on all divers then it will stop
Yaah i am an arsenal fun but i just wonder y God created most of my fellow arsenal funs with short memory that by now they have 4goten how man u tought us a lesson last season until most if not all of us resorted 2 stupid claims that players are young. how old were the great CRON,ROONEY NANI DASILVERS EVANS TEVEZ .........MACTED'S i hate natural stupidity n barkwardness. Rem wen we win they are mature n ready 4 competition n wen beaten they are young up 2 wen???? 6yrs now young,young young you..........ng. u need bullets in order 2 fire the gun but a gun wiz rubber rnds or empty is nothing .
One of the big games in the history of English premier league!Indeed this weekend we will be privalleged to see the good side (team) to win with the best result and that team is the gunners mighty ARSENAL!Man U,tomorrow you should shut up those big mouths of yours and let the game be enjoyed.You talk too too much,and tomorrow we shall show you what it means to be mature.
young gunners go go and teach Man u a big lesson they shall not gorget!
Gunners for life!
EB -Lusaka Zambia.
2 premier league games, Arsenal has scored 10 goals. Make it 3 games, scored 15 goals. From Liverpool supporter.
PREDICTION ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, PREM CORRUPT ICE DANCERS 1 ARSENAL 3 ............C,T,I,D,
I like arsenal for one thing. They are the only team in the world that can shut up the so called big ( but title cheats using referee Horward Web) teams. Man scum Chelshit should remember last premier league season. With youth team, we will disgrace over-aged devils and much more over-aged blues. They know themselves. UP GUNNERS 4 LIFE
remember arsenal have never lost when arshavin plays.the record will continue @ old trafford.go gunners
comment 13 : that's hilarious to see a man utd fan slashing arsenal players for diving. Do you need some help to refresh your memory? Wasn't a united "legend" called Cristiano Ronaldo? Was he known for is sportsmanlike attitudes? I think man utd fans should keep their mouth shut for a while because we still remember c ronaldo played (and dived) week in week out for you for several years !
FROM A CELTIC FAN IN SCOTLAND....... i hope tae god manu scud arsenal at the weekend they think they are world beaters but when is the last time they won a trophy certainly not a big club like manu or chelsea or liverpool that is a cert so come on utd bring them back tae earth wae a bang my prediction 4-0 utd remember last seaon all you gooners they wiped the floor wae yous home and away GLORY GLORY MAN UTD
For your info (LIVE):
Group A: Bayern-Juventus-Bordeaux-M.Haifa
Group B: ManU-CSKA-Besiktas-Wolfsburg
Group C: AC Milan-R.Madrid-Marseille-Zurich
Group D: Chelsea-Porto-A.Madrid-Apoel
Group E: Liverpool-Lyon-Fiorentina-Debreceni
Group F: Barca-Inter-Dynamo-R.Kazan
Group G: Sevilla-Rangers-Stuttgart-Unirea
Group H: Arsenal-Alkmaar-Olympiacos-Liege
*Best Goalkeeper = Van Der Sar
**Best Defender = John Terry
***Best Midfielder = Xavi
****Best Forward = Messi
here come the cheats to be crashed at OT. this will Champions League semi finals reloaded
remember emirates in Champions League semis. the a.r.s.e.s will be slaughted in OT.
Cant wait for the pathetic little arsers to arrive up here on saturday ....where we shall thrash them on behalf of all football fans who know when someone is cheating and diving....arsenal will be thrashed on saturday....glory glory man united!
yeah come and have a go you muppets like last season ho ho you muppets are deluded just like the scousers and the divs from eastlands
m.u.f.c. forever
Win arsenal
dun let fabregas absence hinder you!!!!!!!!!!!
A job weldone guyx let go 2 old trafold nd finish d job cms sarturday.
Never a penalty the great Manchester United will show the gooners how the game is played come saturday!!
C'mon Gunners, get the three points from the scum.
Typical Wenger remark. Clear dive should have been red card.High time TV was used in these kind of incidents to dump the cheats, all of them from whatever stripe out of the game.
hope fabregas is fit for this one
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