Wenger confident of European glory

Arsene Wenger has confidently predicted that his team "can win" the Champions League this season because "we want it".

The pressure is off the Arsenal boss ahead of tonight's Group H clash in Sevilla as the Gunners have already qualified, and Wenger said: "I have always been a great believer in this group, even when everybody said that I was crazy.

"I believe in the players I have and I am very pleased with their attitude."

Wenger will be resting captain William Gallas and striker Emmanuel Adebayor - and he must make do without injured trio Gael Clichy, Alexander Hleb and Robin van Persie.

But he still insisted: "We want to finish first. It gives you a little advantage in the draw and another advantage in that you have the second game at home in the knockout stages. We are on a good run and we want to keep that going."

Wenger, who has sold Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Sol Campbell and Ashley Cole since the Champions League final defeat against Barcelona 18 months ago says: "We are one of the teams who can win it. But there are between six and 10 teams in Europe who can win it, because this is a cup competition - and you need to go into the knockout stages in good shape."

Sevilla, twice UEFA Cup winners under Juande Ramos, still pose a threat to Arsenal and Wenger believes they are capable of reaching the final in Moscow next May.

He added: "Sevilla are among the teams who can reach the final. They will want to do their best, because they are playing in front of their home crowd.

"They had two bad results in the championship and will certainly want to show they are a good side. They will also be bearing in mind that we won 3-0 in London and will want to come back with a better performance.

"I still think Sevilla are a very good side. We took advantage of the mistakes they made in the first game - but if you look at the statistics of the game it was very even possession-wise. We were a bit sharper than them on the night.

"But I still think this is a team who can find their way again, and be a danger for the final and to win it in the end. For me, they are one of the potential winners."

The Andalusians have suffered seven defeats in their opening 12 Primera Liga matches this season and were rocked by Ramos' recent move to Arsenal's north London rivals Spurs.

Now under the guidance of Manolo Jimenez, Sevilla have lost their last two La Liga matches and find themselves a massive 14 points behind leaders Real Madrid.

The Gunners go into the match as the leading scorers in both the Premier League and the Champions League group stages, but their firepower will be put to the test tonight thanks to the absence of both Van Persie and Adebayor.

However, Wenger, who has already confirmed young Dane Nicklas Bendtner will start up front, does not foresee any problems.

"I always believe in the players who play, and do not worry too much about the players who are not here," said the Frenchman. "If I choose a player it is because I believe in them."

Sevilla's former Spurs striker Freddie Kanoute insists his side can gain revenge on the Gunners despite the Spaniards' terrible start to the season. He said: "Right now I'm not thinking about the past - neither the 3-0 defeat against Arsenal in London nor our defeat against Real Mallorca last weekend.

"I only have tremendous desire to show that we are not the team that we saw two days ago [against Mallorca], because that was not the true face of Sevilla. I only hope that we play how we know we can.

"We are not down at all. We are eager to erase what happened the other day."