Sagna determined to put things right

Groans may have accompanied the Arsenal FC players off the field after Saturday's frustrating goalless home draw with Sunderland AFC but defender Bacary Sagna maintains their morale remains high ahead of the Londoners' last-16 showdown with AS Roma.

Good atmosphere
Arsenal have struggled to produce their famous free-flowing football on home soil this term – recording two successive 0-0 draws and just four goals in their last seven league games here – yet Sagna underlines the determination in the Gunners' dressing room to put things right. The French international said: "The fans want to see their team winning all the time and scoring goals. We understand their frustration but they have to understand we are human first and give everything. I think we are doing quite well at the moment defensively and the atmosphere is very good in the team even if we are not winning.

Youthful makeup
"All our games are important now and this is a very important game at home first," he added, looking ahead to Roma's first-leg visit. "We know it will be difficult and we will give everything as always and try to win." Much is made of the youthful makeup of Arsène Wenger's side – they finished the fixture against Sunderland with three 21-year-olds and two teenagers on the pitch – and Sagna, one of the older heads at 26, believes this can be to their advantage as the pressure rises. "It can be good we are young because we have nothing to lose. We need to go out and enjoy it on the pitch. We can play good football, we are young and we all want to look forward and win something this season."

Painful lesson
Sagna is also confident Arsenal have learned from their painful defeat at Liverpool FC in the quarter-finals of last season's UEFA Champions League, when they surrendered victory by conceding twice in the closing five minutes. "Last season we were close to doing something," he said. "Now we are determined to go far in the Champions League and we know we can do it. It was very disappointing but this is the past and we have to learn. We have to be wiser, to remember not to make the same mistakes. We know if we play our own football we can be dangerous and win against the big teams." That they have made few defensive mistakes recently, shipping just one goal in six matches, offers cause for optimism despite their problems at the other end.