Monday 23 February 2015 13:05, UK
Arsene Wenger believes his Arsenal side will have to continue their recent improvement if they are to get past Monaco in the last-16 of the Champions League.
The Gunners moved back into the top four of the Premier League on Saturday with a nervy 2-1 win at Crystal Palace but they quickly have to turn their attention to European matters.
However Wenger is confident his squad, with their injury problems mostly behind them, are up to showing they have what is needed to last the distance on all fronts.
"The spirit is there and we want to keep that as a very strong basis, the team has come up a level and we will see that with the results," said Wenger.
The Arsenal manager warned there can be no sense of complacency when they tackle Monaco, who topped Champions League Group C and won 1-0 at Nice on Friday night to maintain their own domestic top-four challenge.
"The last 16 in recent years has been super tough. This is a 50/50 game," said Wenger, who is set to face the club he guided to the 1988 Ligue 1 title in a competitive fixture for the first time.
"We know that Monaco are very tight defensively - they didn't concede in the group stage against good teams. Of course it will be tricky, but a possible tie.
"It is really a 50/50 because Monaco are in a similar position to us. They came back into a good position in the league and their confidence level will be high."
Despite all of the nostalgia connected with the European tie, Wenger, who left Monaco the following year to take over at Nagoya Grampus in Japan, insists his sole focus had been on getting the needed result at Selhurst Park.
"I have enough experience to know that the most important game is this one, after, you think about the next one, so it has not been hard." Wenger added.
"We fought like mad to come back in a strong position in the (Premier League), and not to win (against Palace) would have been disastrous."
