The Arsenal manager insists his side cannot afford to sit back and defend against the Bundesliga champions but admits his side face a tough task as they fight for the points
Arsene Wenger would gladly accept a point from Arsenal’s trip to Bayern Munich on Wednesday but admits they cannot afford to simply sit back and defend.
The Gunners kept their hopes of reaching the Champions League knockout stages alive with a 2-0 victory over Pep Guardiola’s side on matchday three and have managed a draw and a victory in their last two visits to the Allianz Arena.
Bayern were held to a goalless draw against Eintracht Frankfurt on Friday but Wenger insists they remain a dangerous attacking team and believes playing too defensively against the Bundesliga leaders could prove fatal.
“I would sign today to take a point but to sit off Bayern,” the Arsenal manager said. “But with their offensive quality, that would be difficult to maintain for 90 minutes.
“We have to relieve the pressure whenever we can and try to score goals. That is the structure of our team, to attack.
“If we set out our players only to defend then I don’t think we’ll be so efficient. We have to play every time we can.”
Arsenal stretched their recent run of form to five wins in six matches with a 3-0 victory away to Swansea City on Saturday and Wenger is confident his side is continuing to grow in strength.
“It was impressive because if you look at our away results since the start of the season, we have won at Crystal Palace and Watford, at Newcastle and at Swansea,” he added. “So it looks like the team has stabilised and is growing as a unit. So let’s grow even more.
“We are certainly more stable defensively but that is from the start of January. If you look at the points we have taken from January 1, we have taken more points than anyone else.”