Arsenal v Monaco preview

• Arsenal and Monaco meet for the first time in UEFA competition
• Arsenal's Arsène Wenger faces the club he coached for seven years until 1994
• Wenger says he will be "always grateful" for his time at Monaco
• Monaco have conceded only three goals in 14 games since matchday six
• Monaco coach Leonardo Jardim urges his side to put faith in their defensive quality

Possible lineups
Arsenal: Ospina; Chambers, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal; Coquelin, Cazorla; Welbeck, Özil, Sánchez; Giroud.
• Out: Ramsey (hamstring), Arteta (ankle), Debuchy (shoulder), Gnabry (knee), Diaby (calf), Wilshere (ankle)
• Doubtful: Oxlade-Chamberlain (groin)

Monaco: ubašić; Fabinho, Abdennour, Wallace, Kurzawa; Dirar, João Moutinho, Kondogbia, Bernardo Silva, Ferreira-Carrasco; Berbatov.
• Out: Toulalan (suspended), Lamina Traoré (leg), Bakayoko (thigh), Carvalho (calf), Raggi (knee)
• Doubtful: Kurzawa (leg), Ferreira-Carrasco (thigh)

Arsène Wenger, Arsenal manager
I've been manager of Arsenal for 18 years and I'm only focused on qualifying for the quarter-finals. Monaco are a team who got 11 points in the group stage – they scored four goals and conceded one – which means they defend very well. That's certainly what they will try to do as they are also very good on the break, quick in transition.

[Monaco] was the start of my career and I didn't know how long I'd be in the job or where I would end up. It was my first chance at a big club, I was very young and you're always grateful for that. This is the first time they have put a lot of investment into the team again because they were in the second division.

We have been in the Champions League for 17 consecutive years – easy is a word that you have to ban in the Champions League. Every time we have been in there, it was through hard-earned wins. It is always a one-goal difference – you go out for one goal, you stay in for one goal and that means you have to work very hard.

Leonardo Jardim, Monaco coach
A Monaco coach is never looking for problems, he is always trying to find solutions. We have a few players missing from the side that got us here, but it is the boys on the pitch that matter. The most important thing is that we stay faithful to our football philosophy and our defensive quality – we can also attack well and get an important goal here.

Arsenal have developed a lot over the last couple of years and they're a better side than they were two or three years ago. They have had some very strong attacking players come into the squad. We beat them in pre-season but that was just a training game so we can't draw too many conclusions; but we'd take the same result [a 1-0 win]. Arsenal are a lot stronger now, though.

Monaco have never been favourites and we still qualified top of our group. It's the same here: nobody expects us to win but that shouldn't stop us reaching the quarter-finals. Our strategy is to be solid and not allow Arsenal's key attacking players to unbalance us.

Weekend results
Crystal Palace FC 1-2 Arsenal (Cazorla 8pen, Giroud 45+1; Murray 90+4)
OGC Nice 0-1 Monaco (Bernardo Silva 85)

Form guide (all competitions)
Arsenal: WWWLWW
Monaco: WWLDDW

Match facts
• Monaco have lost just once in five previous visits to England, but who was that defeat against and when? Find out in our extensive match background.