More like this
Arsenal fail to score after Wenger rests Robin van Persie
Only Walcott comes close as Gunners are held to 0-0 draw by 'physically impressive' Marseille
Arsenal 0 Marseille 0. The Gunners failed to fire against French club Marseille after Arsene Wenger omitted Robin van Persie from his starting line-up. "The reason I left Robin out was physical tiredness," said Wenger after watching his side held to a goalless draw at the Emirates. "It was a gamble. You can say it didn't come off. He had a great chance when he came on."
Wenger had hoped that Arsenal would follow up their 1-0 win in Marseille last month with another victory and guarantee their passage into the last 16 of the Champions League. But the visitors were good value for their point and now lie second in group F, one point behind the Gunners who top the table.
With Borusssia Dortmund beating Olympiakos in the group’s other fixture, Arsenal are still well placed to qualify and need to win one of their remaining two games to progress into the knockout stages.
"I'm confident we can qualify top of the group," said Wenger, who felt his side hadn’t fully recovered from the 5-3 thrashing of Chelsea on Saturday. "We were tired emotionally more than physically maybe. It's difficult to be on a high three days later."
Like Arsenal, Marseille’s domestic form has picked up in recent weeks after a shaky start to the season and the French club had the better of the opening exchanges at the Emirates. The Ayew brothers - Jordan and Andre - both had chances early on as the visitors exploited the defensive vulnerability of Arsenal’s Brazilian full-back Andre Santos.
Arsenal’s biggest threat came from Theo Walcott and the England winger nearly repeated his goal-scoring exploits of Saturday when a rasping shot produced a fingertip save from Marseille keeper Steve Mandanda.
After a lively first half the second period was less open as Marseille looked happy to settle for a point. Wenger introduced Van Persie on the hour mark but the Dutchman failed with his one attempt when put clear by Tomas Rosicky on 77 minutes. In a one-on-one with Mandanda, Van Persie tried a chip that was gratefully gathered by the French gloveman.
"It was a very difficult game," confessed Wenger. "Marseille were physically very impressive and closed us down at every opportunity... Now we want to win the Dortmund game at home [on 23 November], but overall we are in a good position." ·
