Arsenal, Celtic on course for group stage berths

Both teams ‘favourite’ to qualify from the Champions League playoffs.

PARIS: Arsenal and Celtic headline a list of sides seeking to clinch a place in the lucrative Champions League group stage this week in the return legs of the play-offs.

Ten-man Arsenal escaped Turkey with a goalless draw against Besiktas, but the Gunners remain on course for a 17th consecutive group phase appearance although they will be without suspended midfielder Aaron Ramsey for Wednesday’s second leg.



Arsene Wenger’s men displayed their resilience by coming from two goals down to salvage a 2-2 draw at Everton in the Premier League on Saturday and Jack Wilshere believes the result puts them in a perfect frame of mind to wrap up the tie with Besiktas.

“This is a fantastic point and now we have a big game on Wednesday and this will give us great confidence going into that,” the England midfielder told Arsenal.com after the match at Goodison Park.

“We never give up and at this level that is massive. We have always shown over the years that Arsenal are going to battle like mad right until the end.”

The north London club boasts a proud record of having never lost a Champions League qualifying tie and although last week’s draw was the first time in 13 matches they’d failed to win a play-off encounter, the goal is quite simple for Wenger.

“We know the second leg will be tight again, but we are at home, so the task is clear for us - we want to win,” said the Arsenal boss.

Celtic were held to a 1-1 draw at Slovenian champions Maribor in the first leg, but the Scots remain favourites to progress under new coach Ronny Deila.

Deila, though, expects his players to respond and capitalise on their second chance in Tuesday’s return fixture at Parkhead.

“The players will have no problem picking themselves up. We have a new game now and we are going to bounce back on Tuesday,” Deila told the club’s in-house television channel, Celtic TV.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 26^th, 2014.

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