Oxlade-Chamberlain figures to be an important player on Wednesday night and Wenger saw fit to intervene when the scorer of the opener against Liverpool on Sunday encountered difficulties with his footwear.
Wenger will be hoping Oxlade-Chamberlain suffers no similar mishaps tomorrow night, and while the 20-year-old seemed genuinely perturbed by the problem, the rest of the Arsenal squad looked relaxed ahead of the crunch match.
Arsenal may be relying on Lukas Podolski, Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil for some incites on how to beat their German countrymen tomorrow, but the trio seemed more intent on sharing a joke than passing on tips.
It took Tomas Rosicky – another who has experience playing in the Bundesliga – to talk some sense into Mertesacker who was earlier spotted horsing around by giving himself a ‘wedgie’.
Jack Wilshere, meanwhile, has called for Arsenal to show greater intelligence against Bayern tomorrow night and he was all business, taking time to stretch carefully in a bid to prevent picking up any further setbacks in what has been an injury disrupted season.
Despite the stormy weather, Wenger in particular was able to work up a sweat as he got down to business and need to shed layers in a bid to cool off
Indeed, Wenger knows his side face a tough task but believes the recent matches against Tottenham and Liverpool provide reason for optimism.
He said: “We know we face the favourites of the competition. We have belief because we have only had big games in the Champions League and the FA Cup – Tottenham and Liverpool.
“Since the start of this season we have known we have had to be 100 per cent for every game. I believe we can do it but that is down to tomorrow.”
Written by Steve Milne @stevenmilnelive
