Olive branch for Mahrez
IN OSTERSUND ARSENE WENGER has been forced to bring in the big guns tonight as the Arsenal manager admitted the pressure is now really on to win the Europa League.
Mesut Ozil will make his first appearance in the competition against Ostersunds in Sweden, as Wenger fields his strongest team possible.
With Saturday’s north London derby loss leaving the Gunners eight points adrift of the top four and the prospect of Champions League football next season dwindling, the only realistic way to achieve it is via the Europa League. So it is now win or bust.
Throughout this campaign, Wenger has been playing his youngsters but ahead of this last-32 tie he said: “When you go into a competition the aim is to try to win it no matter where we are in the league.
“The pressure might be higher but we’ll try to go as far as we can. We are into the knockout stage. We play a team who has come out of the group stage so they are a good team.
“Mesut will start. We want to do well in this competition. When you go into the knockout stage of course the risk is higher. We are ambitious, so yes, we are more experienced than we have been.
“I would have done this anyway, no matter what happened in the league. We would have brought an experienced team.”
As well as £42.5million Ozil, Granit Xhaka, Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal will also figure, plus new boy Henrikh Mkhitaryan.
As Wenger was speaking at the Ostersund Ski Stadium last night, squads of skiers were undergoing biathlon training outside under lights. It will be a real journey into the unknown for Wenger and his squad.
University town Ostersund is covered in a blanket of snow with drifts six-foot high – the kind of conditions that would have the UK grinding to halt. It was, though, regarded as a relatively mild day around these parts yesterday at -2C.
Arsenal, who will also face the perils of a 4G pitch, were already without striker Alexandre Lacazette, out after surgery on a knee injury, while Jack Wilshere was left behind after suffering illness before the Spurs defeat, Laurent Koscielny is out with an Achilles tendon problem and Aaron Ramsey has a groin
AN ENGLISHMAN ABROAD: POTTER’S WHEEL OF FORTUNE
1) PLAYING CAREER Born in Solihull, Birmingham, Potter was a trainee with the Blues. While at Birmingham, he had a loan spell at Wycombe before moving on to Stoke and Southampton. A full-back, he played 10 times in the Premier League for Saints, including an appearance in the famous 6-3 win against Manchester United at the Dell in October 1996. He was capped for England Under-21s while at Southampton, featuring in a European Championship qualifier against Moldova. Stints at West Brom, Northampton, Reading, York, Boston, Shrewsbury and Macclesfield followed before he retired in 2004. 2) LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL Potter studied for a social sciences degree while playing for Southampton and eventually completed his Masters in leadership and emotional intelligence. After hanging up his boots at the age of 30, he undertook coaching roles in higher education at universities in Hull and then Leeds. It was at the latter where he did his coaching badges. Ostersunds chairman Daniel Kindberg plucked Potter from his role at Leeds in 2011, considering him the right man to turn his struggling club around on the recommendation of then-Swansea manager Roberto Martinez’s assistant coach Graham Jones, who had played with Potter at Boston. 3) RISE OF OSTERSUNDS Potter took over at Ostersunds in 2011 when they were in the Swedish fourth tier. In his first five seasons in charge, the club won promotion three times to reach the Allsvenskan – the top division of Swedish football – for the first time in 2016. Last year, Potter steered Ostersunds to their first major trophy, the Svenska Cupen, beating IFK Norrkoping 4-1 in the final to seal a place in the Europa League qualification stages. Ostersunds finished second in Group J, level on points with Athletic Bilbao, losing only one match. Potter began the season as the only English manager in charge of a club competing in European competition, although caretaker David Unsworth later took charge of Everton during the Europa League group stages following the sacking of Ronald Koeman. To reach this stage, Potter masterminded victories against Galatasaray and PAOK Salonika in the qualifying rounds before progressing from a group which included Hertha Berlin and Athletic Bilbao. teams make this thing against us. It was important to stay united within the club, the fans, the players, among themselves. We succeeded in keeping united within the team.”
City offered Leicester a £65m package for Mahrez, including £15m-valued winger Patrick Roberts, but negotiations collapsed when the Foxes held out for an £80m cash deal.
Mahrez made a shock return to training last Friday after skipping work for 10 days and missing two Premier League games. He could make his first start since the sorry saga began in tomorrow’s FA Cup fifth-round tie against Sheffield United.
Puel says the Algerian has been accepted back by his team-mates after addressing them about his absence. “It is a situation behind us. It was important Riyad gave his feeling to the dressing room, but the details will remain inside the club,” said Puel. “They welcomed him with a good feeling and now it’s important to move on.
“He was in the squad at Manchester City last Saturday. It was important for me and the player to put an end to the whole situation.” CRYSTAL PALACE are in talks to sign Brazilian goalkeeper Diego Cavalieri.
Former Liverpool player Cavalieri, 35, right, has torn up his contract with Fluminense and is close to joining Palace on a short-term deal to act as cover for Wayne Hennessey.
Palace boss Roy Hodgson has been searching for a goalkeeper following Julian Speroni’s season-ending knee injury.