Must-win for Arsenal after Zagreb defeat

Arsene Wenger: You have to win your homes games. Picture: PA

The Gunners host the Greek leaders, who have won all of their five domestic fixtures, needing to recover from a disappointing opening Group F defeat away to Dinamo Zagreb, where strike Olivier Giroud was sent off.

With a double-header next against Bayern Munich, Wenger concedes this evening’s contest now leaves no margin for further error.

He said: “You have to win your home games if you want to qualify from the group stage, it is simple as that. We cannot afford to drop points now against anyone at home.”

Wenger added: “Olympiacos dominates their league, they are a team with a big advantage – they dominate their league easily, so they can prepare for these kinds of games. They are well organised and have some players who know the Premier League, like [Esteban] Cambiasso and [Pajtim] Kasami who both played in England.”

It has been a poor start for English sides in Europe’s elite club competition this season, with defeats for both Manchester clubs as well as Arsenal. Wenger, though, does not believe any definitives can yet be drawn.

He said: “The Premier League is very, very tough. Is that an influence or not? I don’t know, but it’s a bit early to come to any conclusions. We have to wait a little bit longer. A second year without us being successful and you could come to a conclusion of, ‘yes, there is something we have to analyse deeply’, but I don’t believe so at the moment.

“Are we far away? I don’t think so, but we have to show that with our performance.”

Arsenal host Premier League leaders Manchester United on Sunday, but that will not impact on Wenger’s team selection, although goalkeeper David Ospina could again be preferred to Petr Cech.

Defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin has returned to training following a knee problem which kept him out of Saturday’s 5-2 win at Leicester.