Thomas Tuchel has in the good spirit of sportsmanship sent Arsenal, ahead of their Champions League tie against Bayern Munich, a warning that the Bundesliga giants ‘want to cause them pain’ in their Champions League quarter-final first leg at the Emirates Stadium.<\/p>\n
The Bayern boss, who managed Chelsea between 2021 and 2022, returns to London to face the Premier League leaders on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Bayern currently trail Bundesliga table-toppers Bayer Leverkusen by 16 points after Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at Heidenheim. However, despite a lackluster league campaign, Tuchel insists his team can inflict pain on the Gunners.<\/p>\n
“Arsenal are currently the best team in the Premier League and that is deserved, all the data shows that,” Tuchel told a press conference on Monday.<\/p>\n
“They are in great form and have been at the highest level for the last two seasons so it’s a massive test for us. It’s the second year for them where they’re playing at this really high level, they have so much energy on the pitch and they can keep it for a long time.<\/p>\n
“We know about our own strengths and how we want to cause them pain. We know the Champions League\u00a0is a competition where we have more experience over the last few years. We want to use it to our advantage.”<\/p>\n
Arsenal finished fifth during Tuchel’s first full season as Chelsea manager in 2021-22. Tuchel has given Gunners boss Mikel Arteta credit for their ascension in recent years.<\/p>\n
“There’s been a complete change in culture since Arteta joined, it is clear what way the club wanted to go with him and the club are harvesting that,” he added.<\/p>\n
“It was a difficult start, but the team stood by him and they overcame the difficult phase. Tactically they are at a very high level, they are very stable against the ball. You have to give them a big compliment.”<\/p>\n
“We will try to be strong nonetheless. The style in the Champions League is different to that in the Premier League.”<\/p>\n
Touching on the same issue, former Manchester City winger Leroy Sane ha worked alongside Arteta \u2013 who had been Pep Guardiola’s assistant manager until 2019 at the Etihad Stadium \u2013 and he credited the current Arsenal boss for developing him as a young player.<\/p>\n
He said: “It was great and I was pleased to work with him because he helped me a lot at City. We had some talks about how I can improve in my game, what my weakness and strengths are.<\/p>\n
“I think I made huge improvements because of the ideas he had and what he gave to me. I still keep them in my mind.”<\/p>\n
Tuesday’s much-anticipated clash will see Bayern’s former Tottenham striker Harry Kane \u2013\u00a0having scored 32 goals in his debut Bundesliga season so far \u2013 engage with the Gunners again. And Tuchel believes the England captain will relish his return.<\/p>\n
He said: “I think it’s enjoyable for Harry to be here at Arsenal\u00a0in a quarter-final of the Champions League.”<\/p>\n
“It will make him very happy to score and I don’t see anything holding him back. Harry always helps you to win. He will help us perform tomorrow.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"