Arsene Wenger says Arsenal have no reason to fear Bayern Munich in their make-or-break Champions League showdown because the German giants have weaknesses that can be exploited.
Bayern will arrive at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night in imperious form, having just set a record for the best start to a domestic season with their ninth consecutive Bundesliga victory.
Pep Guardiola’s side have also dominated the European campaign, with a 100 per cent record from both Group F matches so far, netting eight times without reply.
Arsenal have suffered successive defeats from their first two Champions League fixtures and will be in severe danger of failing to qualify for the knockout stages for the first time in 16 years if they lose to Bayern.
But Gunners boss Wenger, while willing to show his admiration for the 2013 European champions, has no doubts Arsenal can rattle the Germans if they emulate the performances that brought them successive 3-0 wins over Manchester United and Watford.
“You can consider the teams who win the Champions League are the best in the world because most of the time they win after the World Cup of the clubs in recent years,” Wenger told reporters on Friday.
“However, there is no team without weaknesses.
“What we want to do tomorrow is win the game. We want to defend well, attack well, score the first goal, that is massively important in the big games.
“You can never promise you will score three goals in 20 minutes because that would be absolutely crazy. What we can do is start in a strong way and that is what we will try to do.”
To overcome Bayern, Wenger admits Arsenal need to show a completely different attitude from the tame displays delivered in their European losses against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos.
“We have some ground to make up in Europe as we have not been at our requested level in our first two games,” Wenger added.
“Our focus has been much stronger in the Premier League than it has been in Europe and we know in this game the focus needs to be exactly the same than in the Premier League.
“We maybe could be suspected in the first two games of not taking the opponent seriously enough.
“Now we have the needed belief and confidence that we are doing something right, so that helps.”