Arsene Wenger says his Arsenal side would take the Europa League seriously if they drop out of the Champions League.
The Gunners entertain
Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night with their hopes of progressing from
Group F hanging in the balance after three defeats from their opening
four games.
Arsenal know they must win
to keep any chance of getting out of the group stages alive and, even
then, anything other than a victory for Bayern Munich over Olympiakos in
Germany would see Wenger's side eliminated.
However, they could finish third and drop into the Europa League.
In the past, the Europa
League has been treated as a lower priority by a number of English
clubs, but Wenger would follow in the footsteps of clubs on the
continent.
"We would take the competition seriously -- but we are not out [of the Champions League] yet," he said.
"I believe that this
problem is exaggerated a little bit in England because we play Wednesday
and Saturday, so it is the same as Thursday and Sunday. I can't see the
difference.
"There are plenty of
examples in Portugal and Spain where teams have taken it seriously and
won the championship. Benfica are the example, Sevilla have done well."
Wenger also rebuffed
suggestions that Bayern and Olympiakos could play out a draw at the
Allianz Arena that would see both sides qualify at Arsenal's expense.
"If Bayern don't win they could still be second in the group because they go to Zagreb where they can lose," he said.
"In front of their crowd
they will want to win. That will be really Machiavellian to think they
will deliberately lose [sic] to get us out."
Arsenal's stuttering Champions League campaign started with a 2-1 defeat in Zagreb, with Olivier Giroud sent off.
After the match, Dinamo midfielder Arijan Ademi failed a drugs test and has since been handed a four-year ban by UEFA.
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