Wenger confirms: Alexis Sanchez will be back against Man City and believes they can defeat Barcelona

Arsenal has been drawn against Barcelona for the Champions League knock-out stage. The Catalans have eliminated the London club twice in the competition before. They will now meet for the third time in six years, when they face each other in February next year.

Arsene Wenger believes that despite previous defeats, and current Barcelona form, Arsenal has the chance to get past Spanish Giants this season. He says that their victory over Bayern in the group stage is a sign that they are inspired enough to achieve a favourable result.

Speaking in an interview, he said, “We’re playing the best team in Europe at the moment. We have a chance to knock them out. We have to be inspired by the result against Bayern, the same type of team. We have a good chance to go through. An exciting one. We’re ambitious.”

Wenger added that they have faced Barcelona with a team less experienced and they have improved immensely since. “We are more mature [now]. We played against Barcelona with top teams but inexperienced and they were in full power,” the Frenchman stated.

“We still managed to beat them and it was always very tight. We were sometimes unlucky as well. I don’t forget that. We have an opportunity to put things right.”

Arsenal has failed to advance beyond the last 16 for the past five seasons, and will aim to end their misery. However, Arsenal finally has a chance to win the league this season and will hope to strengthen their hold in the league with a win over City on Monday.

Alexis Sanchez to return for Man City match

Alexis Sanchez is hoping to make a surprise return. The Chilean has expressed his desire to play and Wenger confirmed it in the press conference yesterday morning saying: “Everybody who played against Aston Villa is available for Monday night and there are one or two possible comebacks. Maybe there is a slight chance for Alexis to be in the squad, but it is too early to be sure about it. He is running, but not participating in full training.”

“It’s not trust in a negative way. But some of them are so keen to forget that they are hurt that they say “I am alright” when they are not. It’s a compliment. You want everyone to want to play. We have shown again recently that we have a fantastic mentality in the team, and these players are something special on the human front. “