Wenger - A draw in Kyiv would be a good start

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Arsène Wenger believes the “massive challenge” of Dynamo Kyiv will beso great on Wednesday night that he would even settle for a draw.

Itis unusual for the Arsenal manager to talk in those terms ahead of sucha crucial clash. But then Wenger has been to the Ukraine three times inthe past decade – twice to Kiev, once to Donetsk – and has lost onevery occasion.

Those defeats were played between October 21 andNovember 7 in their respective years. This game comes five weeksearlier and well before winter sets in. Wenger concedes that is anadvantage but he argues that Dynamo Kyiv remain a huge obstacle.

“Itis a tough place for us to go,” he said. “It is maybe a little bitbetter for us to play earlier but I am convinced it will still be amassive challenge. We’ll go there and try to win the game but even ifwe take a point then for me it will be a good start.

“DynamoKyiv knocked out Spartak Moscow 4-1, 4-1 [in each leg of theirqualifying game]. When you know Spartak Moscow and how strong theRussian League is at the moment that means it is a tough draw. I sawthe first game at Spartak Moscow and Dynamo Kyiv were really impressive.

“Ourgroup has four teams who are all used to playing in the ChampionsLeague – Fenerbache, Porto, Dynamo and us. Anyone can take points offanyone that’s why for me it’s very important we start well in thisgame.”