Ramsey has hope for Monaco clash

15 March 2015 13:31

Aaron Ramsey believes Arsenal can use the 3-0 win over West Ham as a template to produce the same result in Monaco next week and keep their Champions League hopes alive.

The Gunners eventually saw off the challenge of the Irons, who suffered a third straight Barclays Premier League defeat, to move within a point of second-placed Manchester City with what was a eighth win out of the last nine.

There is, however, little time for Arsene Wenger's men to recover before they must again raise themselves for the trip to Monaco and the quest to overturn a 3-1 first-leg deficit which has left their Europeans dreams hanging by a thread.

Ramsey, who scored Arsenal's second goal on 84 minutes before substitute Mathieu Flamini tapped in a third moments after coming on, feels a similar positive approach can see them pull of an unlikely result at the Stade Louis II Stadium.

"We will go there and try to score three or more goals and hopefully not concede any, that is our target and is how we will approach it," the Welshman said.

"We had a sloppy first leg and we have made it quite difficult for ourselves, but it is not over yet.

"We are more than capable of scoring three goals. We scored three on Saturday and we believe in ourselves.

"So we will go into the game believing we can achieve that."

After seeing Theo Walcott, recalled into the starting XI for the injured Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, thwarted by some good reactions from West Ham goalkeeper Adrian - who played despite suffering a dislocated finger in the warm-up - Olivier Giroud eventually fired Arsenal into the lead on the stroke of half-time with a fierce left-footed shot drilled in off the far post.

West Ham raised their game for the second half, but were unable to convert that dominance into a goal.

Sam Allardyce opted out of his post-match media duties to try to lift the squad, who have seen solid performances against the likes of Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea fail to earn a victory.

Midfielder Mark Noble is confident the eight-match winless run will soon be ended, as the Irons look to get some of their walking wounded back into the squad ahead of the home game against Sunderland.

"We have been through a tough patch after a great first half or the season, so we need to kick on now for the last quarter of it," Noble said.

"We have got a good bunch of lads and will keep working hard, training well and hopefully we can get some points against Sunderland next week."

Source: PA