Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta says Monaco can cause “chaos” as Aston Villa prepare to face the Ligue 1 club next up in the Champions League.
Arteta’s Gunners swept Monaco aside 3-0 in the Champions League at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night to join Villa on 13 points after six matches in the league phase of the competition. But despite the scoreline, Arteta insists it was not a comfortable night for his players.
“The level of opposition is really high,” he said. “The way they play, they create quite a chaos, because there are so many players inside and the moment that you are not very well organised or neat in possession, the first two, three passes, you're gonna struggle against them.”
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Villa took another big step towards qualifying for the knockout phase of the Champions League with a 3-2 victory over RB Leipzig on Tuesday night, thanks to goals from John McGinn, Jhon Duran and Ross Barkley. And Unai Emery’s side will aim to finish the job when they travel to Monaco on January 21, before hosting Celtic in their final league phase tie at Villa Park on January 29.
Villa are currently in fifth place in the Champions League league phase table, behind Liverpool, Barcelona, Arsenal and Bayer Leverkusen, with the top eight all qualifying automatically for the knockout stages.
Can Villa get the job done in the Champions League against Monaco and Celtic? Tell us HERE
