Arsenal v AZ Alkmaar Preview: Gunners to Overcome Loss of Gael Clichy

Emirates Stadium, Wednesday, 1945 GMT

ARSENAL:
Arsene Wenger conceded the loss of Gael Clichy to a suspected stress fracture of the back comes as an untimely blow, but remains confident nothing will halt his Arsenal side's recent progress.

Victory over AZ Alkmaar will see the Gunners into the last 16 of the Champions League just four days after the comprehensive defeat of Tottenham in the north London derby.

Recent form has been good enough to prompt midfielder Andriy Arshavin to declare that Arsenal can win both the Premier league and Champions League and, far from playing down the Russian's claims, Wenger has no problem with his player's ambitious talk.

"I'm happy with his confidence," said the Frenchman. "In England you don't have to confuse confidence and arrogance. I believe we are in this job to try to win. I'm very happy the players believe they can win. Usually you are guided by fear. I want my players to be confident and honest. We will do everything to do it; I prefer that to someone saying we can't win things. I'm very happy he said that."

The first meeting between these two sides a fortnight ago exposed Arsenal's tendency to switch off defensively with David Mendes da Silva's added time goal denying Wenger's side victory and the manager has demanded improved levels of concentration. "We have to show we can focus every three days and can play for each other every three days," he added. "We can prepare with the same conscientious attitude. That is what we still have to accomplish. We have to show we have the same seriousness against AZ as we did against Spurs."

Strategy: Wenger's biggest priority right now is to instil discipline in his team. He knows they can be irresistible at times going forward but, when playing for the highest stakes, even minor errors can prove costly. The manager wants his players to develop good habits and that includes not getting over-stretched when in control of the game and allowing inferior opponents to claw their way back into the game. "We need to be more controlled we don't need seven players running up front when we are winning 1-0 or 2-1," he said.

Injury update: Clichy is expected to be out for about two months and will be a loss although deputy Kieran Gibbs enjoys Wenger's full confidence and has even been tipped as a possible contender for Fabio Capello's England squad next summer. Nicklas Bendtner has a groin problem and is likely to be out for a month. Tomas Rosicky is in the squad but won't start while Manuel Almunia will be in goal.

AZ ALKMAAR:
Mendes da Silva's equaliser in Alkmaar gave the Dutch club their second point of the campaign and maintained their hopes of a top two finish in Group H. They come into this game on the back of a 1-0 victory over Groningen but are without striker Mahmoud El Hamdaoui who is out for four weeks after tearing a thigh muscle in last week's Dutch cup victory over SV Spakenburg.