Arsene Wenger believes Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich represent the biggest non-Premier League threat to Arsenal’s Champions League hopes this season.
Arsenal continued their impressive start to the campaign on Tuesday night as their 3-0 victory against Sparta Prague made it four wins from four games in the Champions League this season.
Bayern have also won all four of their matches so far and secured a major victory on Tuesday evening with a 2-1 win against Champions League holders PSG at the Parc des Princes.
Liverpool also moved into the top eight in the Champions League table with a 1-0 victory against Real Madrid at Anfield, and Arne Slot’s side are a point ahead of Tottenham, who ran out 4-0 winners against FC Copenhagen.
Manchester City, meanwhile, will leapfrog both Liverpool and Tottenham if they beat Borussia Dortmund at home on Wednesday night, and Newcastle will pull level on nine points with Liverpool if they beat Athletic Bilbao.
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Speaking about the Champions League ambitions of PSG and Bayern Munich to beIN Sports, Wenger said: ‘I would say they’re the two teams who can win the Champions League this season, outside England.
‘One of the other teams of course could be Real Madrid but Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, no one wonders in their league will they win their championship.
‘Paris Saint-Germain will win the championship in France and Bayern have nearly already nearly won the championship in Germany, so their season of course will be in Europe.
‘They will have to fight against the five teams in the Premier League, that will be very interesting.
‘Paris Saint-Germain at the moment are not at their best, Real Madrid at Liverpool are fighting to be their best, then Bayern are in full power.’
Meanwhile, former Premier League striker Troy Deeney also believes Arsenal and Bayern Munich are the two standout candidates to win the Champions League this season.
‘I think for all of us we said they would be in our top three – PSG, Bayern Munich and Arsenal,’ Deeney told CBS Sports.
‘The rest after that is ever-evolving, week to week we could change it. I think we all said those three and then just how you would order them.
‘I would make the argument that Bayern after today [beating PSG] should be top, but I also think we could make a very good argument that Arsenal should be top, they’re top of both leagues, I’d argue it’s more competitive in the Premier League than it is in the Bundesliga.
‘For Arsenal to be top, eight clean sheets in a row, you can make an argument for both teams but Bayern Munich are right up there.’
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