Source: Telegraph
Arsenal have confidence to beat Manchester United says Arsene Wenger
Arsenal were comprehensively beaten last year in the Champions League semi-final against Manchester United but, with Cristiano Ronaldo having moved to Real Madrid and Wenger's young team buoyed by their current form, there is renewed hope.
'I'm happy to go there, yes, because it is the first big, big test,' said Wenger. 'We have the needed confidence. You want always to have a high level of confidence when you go to Old Trafford; we have that at the moment. For us it is most important to recover physically because Man United didn't play in the League Cup.'
Wenger is also taking heart from the goalless draw in the Premier League at Old Trafford at the end of last season. 'In the Champions League I feel we were on back foot and in the Championship we were more adventurous and more going forward. We were too passive in the Champions League – it is more mentally than tactically.
'For any team, you would want to score goals. We are organised and structured to go forwards. The price we pay is sometimes we concede as well. But, as long as we score, we do not worry too much.'
With qualification for the Champions League group stage guaranteed by the 5-1 aggregate victory against Celtic, Wenger is already looking to the potential improvement in his team by the time of the knockout phase of the competition.
'Somebody told me our team [against Celtic] was an average age of 23.9 years,' he said. '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.'
Wenger does not expect Cesc Fabregas to be fit to face Manchester United, but hopes that Abou Diaby can be an option after he figured prominently in the victories against both Portsmouth and Celtic.
