Football
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Ludogorets playing to avoid repeat of 6-0 Arsenal loss - Dermendzhiev

Ludogorets coach Georgi Dermendzhiev will approach Arsenal with more caution when they meet in Sofia on Tuesday night in an attempt to prevent another thrashing.

The Gunners ran up a comfortable 6-0 victory when they met at the Emirates Stadium less than a fortnight ago and can secure safe passage out of Group A.

If Basel cannot beat Paris Saint-Germain in Switzerland, a win for Arsene Wenger's side would see them qualify for the knockout stages for the 17th successive season.

Bulgarian champions Ludogorets are unlikely to keep Arsenal from attaining the win they need to march on having been humbled in north London, but Dermendzhiev is keen for his side to show they are better than that display.

"We will probably be more cautious," he said. "The difference will be that now we know better the way Arsenal play. We have seen it on the pitch and they know what to expect. We will do our best to try and play nice football.

"We have really good players, we conceded a lot of goals but some of that was because Arsenal have great players, some were because we made mistakes."

Ludogorets sit top of the First League having notched a seventh straight league win with a 5-3 victory at Dunav 2010 on Friday night.

Romanian striker Claudiu Keseru scored a hat trick in that game and could be in line for his first Champions League start of the campaign.

The 29-year-old knows plenty about Arsenal pair Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud having played alongside them for a short while during a stint with French club Tours.

And he admits he knew then that the French pair were due to move on to bigger and better things.

"If they are playing at this level, they don't have too many weak points," he said when asked about playing with Koscielny and Giroud.

"I remember them, playing four or five months, and they were already very good players. They came to England after good experiences at Guingamp with Koscielny, and Montpellier with Giroud.

"They are exceptional guys with good character. For me, it's normal they arrived at this level. They are champions, and they act like champions. It's normal for them to be at a club like Arsenal.

"I saw after one or two weeks with Koscielny he had nothing to do at this level [with Tours]. He came into the third division and brought that team to the highest part of the championship. He had a lot of qualities.

"Now I've seen his progress in the last few years, he's trusted himself: he worked like a champion; acted like a champion. The mental part of the game is 60 per cent or 70 percent of the game, and he had those qualities."

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