Wilshere: Watch us bounce right back
JACK WILSHERE says Arsenal will throw aside any caution when they face Borussia Dortmund in the return leg next month.
Before that, the England midfi elder says Crystal Palace will feel the backlash of Robert Lewandowski’s late goal that gave Dortmund victory at the Emirates on Tuesday and tipped the balance of their Champions League group in the German club’s favour.
Arsenal travel to Dortmund next and need to avoid defeat there, or in Napoli in December, to avoid an early exit.
They aim to go to Germany still top of the Premier League, with Palace, who yesterday parted company with manager Ian Holloway, providing a chance for a swift pick- me- up before games against Liverpool and Manchester United.
Wilshere said: “We can’t let this result affect us now, especially in the Premier League where we are on a great run.
“It will be tough at Palace, it always is. They will fi ght for every ball and it will be a different game from Dortmund, but we still have to bounce back straight away. A point against Dortmund would have been a fair result, but we know what we have to do now.”
Wilshere is drawing inspiration from two years ago when Arsenal were leading in the Westfalenstadion before Ivan Perisic equalised in the 88th minute.
“We aim to win every game. It will be tough, but we have been to Dortmund before and were unlucky not to win on the night,” he said. “We were 1- 0 up until they scored a volley in the last minute.
“The good thing about this competition is you do not have to wait very long. In the next couple of weeks we will go out to Dortmund, and it will be all to play for. We’ve had a bad result but can turn it round.”
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said his team were naive to concede the late goal but also felt his players were tired as injuries have meant he has picked a settled team over the past six weeks.
Striker Olivier Giroud, for example, who scored his seventh goal of the season against Dortmund, has played in every Premier League game as well as fi ve Champions League ties and three World Cup qualifi ers for France.