Arsenal take on BATE Borisov in Belarus in the Europa League on Thursday. Read what their head coach Aleksandr Yermakovich had to say about the Gunners and Arsene Wenger.

What do you expect from tomorrow’s match?

First of all a football holiday. For the first time an English grandee came to visit us. It is very interesting how we will look on the background of such an eminent rival. I want to be competitive. We hope that thanks to the good support from the fans and the confident actions of our players to achieve a worthy result.

Which Arsenal players should you most be afraid of?

First you need to find out who will fly to Belarus. In the application there are 49, including 26 foreign players. It is clear that there are enough stars in Arsenal. But our rival is famous not only for some kind of individual action but a very high level of organization of the game in both attack and defence. We should first of all collectively play as a team.

Naturally, we are trying to predict [who will play]. We assume Arsenal have two variants. One is more involved in the championship of England, the other in the cup of the country and the Europa League, if we consider the match with Cologne. With this in mind, we will try and figure out who will play tomorrow.

I think it does not really matter who will play. Arsenal preaches the same football in all tournaments.

We need to really understand who is opposing us. If we were superior to our rival, then it would make sense to argue how to build your strategy from a position of strength. And if we meet with an English grandee, then first of all we must start from them. We will try to be competitive.

We believe and hope due to our good support creating a positive aura will be able to perform. And that these emotions will give us strength.

As for tickets, this happens every year, when BATE enters the European Cup group. We face such a situation. It’s clear, many people ask. Someone manages to help, someone has to refuse.

Are you waiting anxiously for the moment when you shake hands with the Arsenal helmsman Arsene Wenger before the match?

I’m anxiously waiting for tomorrow’s play. Shaking hands is a secondary matter. It is clear that Wenger is a respected coach, eminent. It will be pleasant to cross [swords] with him, to be in the role of opponents.

Would you like to talk to Wenger?

It’s one thing to want. Another thing is to understand that Wenger does not have much time to communicate with everyone.

You studied the strengths and weaknesses of Arsenal. What can you do to oppose him?

We’ll see tomorrow. It’s one thing to study, to tell the team is another, to embody it on the field, given the level of resistance and the level of footballers that Arsenal have. We will try. It is clear that our rival is not simple but grand. But I believe in our guys. We have a fairly good experience of confronting top clubs. And this is important for us.

With thanks to www.ex-press.by