Arsene Wenger has just about seen it all in his 18 years as Arsenal manager, and he feels while the Champions League is harder to win now, it has become somewhat predictable.
After losing 2-0 away to Borussia Dortmund on Matchday 1, Arsenal are bottom of Group D.
However, Wenger remains confident his side can now turn things around in Europe, starting against Galatasaray on Wednesday night, exactly 18 years to the date he first took over for the club.
Wenger insists he “never looks back”, but continues to believe in the “huge potential” of his current squad to deliver.
Wenger, who last season ended a nine-year trophy drought by winning the FA Cup, has never won the Champions League, reaching the 2006 final only to watch his side beaten by Barcelona in Paris.
“Maybe it was more open 15 years ago than it is today. The concentration of the big players in a short number of clubs is much more than it was before,” said Wenger, who turns 65 in October and last season marked 1,000 matches in charge.
“It is much more predictable today, the outcome of the Champions League, than it was 10 years ago. It is harder to win it, but as well more exciting.
“If you make a poll tomorrow and say to people ‘give me four clubs who will win the Champions League’, then 80 or 90 per cent of people will say ‘there are these four clubs’.
“I don’t think that we are one of the four who will be favourites to win it, but football is strange – and not always predictable, so let’s first qualify from the group stage and then we will see.”
The Arsenal manager continued: “One thing that has not changed compared to 18 years ago, the players were very intelligent and they are still very intelligent today.
“They know what is at stake. Mathematically they know tomorrow (against Galatasaray) is the game for us.”
Wenger had confirmed at Arsenal’s Tuesday pre-match press conference France forward Olivier Giroud, currently recovering from a fractured fibia, had agreed an extension, the formalities of which are set to be completed ahead of an official announcement.
“We want stability and we want to keep the core of our team together because I am a great believer in that,” said Wenger.
However, that positive news was tempered by the prognosis on Aaron Ramsey, who pulled up during Saturday’s north London derby against Tottenham and, along with injured captain Mikel Arteta, will be out for at least four weeks, missing Saturday’s trip to Premier League leaders Chelsea.
England midfielder Jack Wilshere, though, could feature on Wednesday despite turning his ankle in the first half at the weekend.
While Ramsey will not be available for Wales’ upcoming European Championship qualifiers, Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs could be handed a recall to England by Roy Hodgson.
“For a long time it was Ashley Cole (for England), (there was) no discussion. Now it is a bit more open,” said Wenger.
“It is a good example (for Gibbs) to follow because Ashley is top.
“You see stories about Ashley Cole, but on the day of a game, when it mattered and when you had to be there, he was always there. You have to respect that.”
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Will the pound fall to parity with the dollar?
The idea of pound parity now seems less far-fetched as the risk grows that Britain may split away from the European Union without a deal.
Rupert Harrison, a fund manager at BlackRock, sees the risk of it falling to trade level with the dollar on a no-deal Brexit. The view echoes Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast that the currency can plunge toward $1 (Dh3.67) on such an outcome. That isn’t the majority view yet – a Bloomberg survey this month estimated the pound will slide to $1.10 should the UK exit the bloc without an agreement.
New Prime Minister Boris Johnson has repeatedly said that Britain will leave the EU on the October 31 deadline with or without an agreement, fuelling concern the nation is headed for a disorderly departure and fanning pessimism toward the pound. Sterling has fallen more than 7 per cent in the past three months, the worst performance among major developed-market currencies.
“The pound is at a much lower level now but I still think a no-deal exit would lead to significant volatility and we could be testing parity on a really bad outcome,” said Mr Harrison, who manages more than $10 billion in assets at BlackRock. “We will see this game of chicken continue through August and that’s likely negative for sterling,” he said about the deadlocked Brexit talks.
The pound fell 0.8 per cent to $1.2033 on Friday, its weakest closing level since the 1980s, after a report on the second quarter showed the UK economy shrank for the first time in six years. The data means it is likely the Bank of England will cut interest rates, according to Mizuho Bank.
The BOE said in November that the currency could fall even below $1 in an analysis on possible worst-case Brexit scenarios. Options-based calculations showed around a 6.4 per cent chance of pound-dollar parity in the next one year, markedly higher than 0.2 per cent in early March when prospects of a no-deal outcome were seemingly off the table.
Bloomberg
ENGLAND TEAM
England (15-1)
George Furbank; Jonny May, Manu Tuilagi, Owen Farrell (capt), Elliot Daly; George Ford, Ben Youngs; Tom Curry, Sam Underhill, Courtney Lawes; Charlie Ewels, Maro Itoje; Kyle Sinckler, Jamie George, Joe Marler
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Innotech Profile
Date started: 2013
Founder/CEO: Othman Al Mandhari
Based: Muscat, Oman
Sector: Additive manufacturing, 3D printing technologies
Size: 15 full-time employees
Stage: Seed stage and seeking Series A round of financing
Investors: Oman Technology Fund from 2017 to 2019, exited through an agreement with a new investor to secure new funding that it under negotiation right now.
David Haye record
Total fights: 32
Wins: 28
Wins by KO: 26
Losses: 4
