Defender Sokratis Papastathopoulos has claimed Arsenal could kick-start their season with victory over Manchester City if the team are prepared to do the “dirty work”.
The Gunners booked their place in the Europa League last 32 after coming from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Standard Liege as interim boss Freddie Ljungberg made nine changes with one eye on City’s visit to Emirates Stadium this Sunday.
Despite Alexandre Lacazette and Bukayo Saka scoring twice in three minutes, Arsenal produced another underwhelming display and have now failed to keep a clean sheet in 13 successive matches.
However, Sokratis believes facing Pep Guardiola’s side could be precisely what they need, having won just once in 11 matches, especially as City were recently beaten by Manchester United.
“Of course, it is a very difficult game. Sometimes, these are games where you can explode. We need one good game in our home to explode,” he said.
Sokratis urged his team-mates to do the “dirty work” to get a result. “You have to have quality but to show the quality you have to first show intensity, win the duels, be organised.
“The team has quality, but to show the quality you have to do the dirty work. If you do the dirty work and you’re organised, you can win. But first of all, you have to work on intensity, pace and organisation.”
Arsenal will learn their Europa League opponents on Monday. By topping Group F, they have avoided the four teams with the best record dropping down from the Champions League — Ajax, Inter Milan, Benfica and Red Bull Salzburg — but they could face Rangers.
