Adebayor: No time for pretty football

Published on Tuesday 9 December 2008 08:56

EMMANUEL ADEBAYOR reckons Arsenal must forget about always trying to win playing pretty football if they are to force themselves back into the race for honours this season.

The Gunners head to Portugal later today ahead of their final Champions League group game with confidence renewed following successive Barclays Premier League wins to breath fresh life into their title bid.

However, Arsene Wenger's men are still some eight points adrift of pace-setters Liverpool, who come to the Emirates Stadium on December 20. And Togo frontman Adebayor accepts all that matters now is securing maximum points, no matter how the goals and the victories come.

"We are eight points behind first place and now we just have to control ourselves, not to worry about whether we play with elegance or not," he said. "The most important thing is not the way we play, it is what we are going to achieve.

"Now we have to forget about how we are going to dribble, how many passes we are going to make – the most important thing is to get the ball in the back of the net and that is it."

Despite hauling off midfielder Emmanuel Eboue after he was booed by his own supporters in the weekend's game against Wigan, manager Arsene Wenger has indicated he is likely to keep faith with the Ivory Coast man for tomorrow's match against Porto.

Former skipper William Gallas missed the Wigan game with a calf problem, but could well come back into contention as Arsenal seek a win to secure top spot in Group G and as such a supposedly more favourable draw in the last 16.