Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal players not to drop a level against Leyton Orient this weekend, or there will be ‘bad surprises’ for his team.
Arsenal defied the odds to stage a late comeback against Barcelona on Wednesday night, which showed that upsets can and do happen in football.
The Gunners were victims of this in January, when they were beaten by Championship strugglers Ipswich Town, and Wenger does not want to see his players treat their League One opposition lightly on Sunday.
“We want to keep the same level of commitment and attitude otherwise we’ll have bad surprises,” said the boss. “It is as big a game as Barcelona because we have to show we can mentally switch from one competition to the other with all the targets we have in front of us, with the same resolute attitude.
“That is what is at stake on Sunday. People will say we have beaten Barcelona so we will be beat Leyton Orient. It doesn’t work like that. You beat Leyton Orient if you turn up with the same attitude.
“I believe it will be down to attitude and focus.
“Orient are doing well at the moment and they are on a high. They had a very good game in the fourth round so we are warned. They try to play football so you should see another interesting game on Sunday.”
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