UEFA Champions League: Dynamo Kiev v Arsenal Such is the legacy of last month's crushing Highbury defeat by Inter Milan that Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal will no longer be the masters of their destiny if they suffer another reverse tonight to the Ukrainian champions.
Should Inter overcome Lokomotiv Moscow at the San Siro today the Arsenal manager considers the Italians' qualification to be guaranteed, and just one other team will progress from Group A. His uncertainty, coloured by the experience of a single Champions League win from their last 11 games, is perhaps to be expected.
"If we lose against Kiev it is not in our hands any more," Wenger said yesterday. "If Inter win they have qualified. Then the rest of us are playing for the second spot, and we cannot afford to lose. This is a big game for us. It is a game where we must get something."
Past Arsenal results in the former Soviet Union do not inspire confidence. In four previous visits, they have lost 4-1 to Spartak Moscow, 3-0 to Shakhtar Bonetsk and 3-1 to Kiev, though Wenger prefers to recall last month's "solid" 0-0 at Lokomotiv Moscow.
The reasons for these European misadventures have been the subject of much analysis. The Arsenal forward Robert Pires puts it down to tactical predictability, a suggestion Wenger rejects.
The Arsenal manager turned the tables on Pires, calling for him and his colleagues to relieve the goalscoring burden on Thierry Henry.
In the past year in the Champions League only Henry has scored away from home.
Allied to the wayward finishing is Arsenal's tendency to lose composure in the face of adversity in Europe. Just once in the past 12 months have Arsenal come back from behind to win, in the 3-1 victory at Roma.
Conversely, over that time they have let a lead slip on three occasions.
Wenger must have agonised long over the match readiness of Patrick Vieira and Freddie Ljungberg, the pair having returned to near-fitness in the past week. Wenger was anxious for his captain Vieira, who has been suffering from a thigh injury, to travel to Kiev so that his dressing-room influence might be felt.
Guardian Service
DYNAMO KIEV (probable, 4-4-1-1): Shovkovsky; Nesmachnii, Govrancic, Federov, Dimytrulin; Peev, Ghioane, Leko, Belkevich; Husyev; Satskikh.
ARSENAL (probable, 4-4-2): Lehmann; Lauren, Toure, Campbell, Cole; Parlour, Gilberto, Vieira, Pires; Wiltord, Henry.
Kick-off: 7.45
On TV: UTV
