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Oxlade-Chamberlain wary of Besiktas

LONDON -- Arsenal midfielder Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has warned his teammates that they need to improve on their first-leg performance if they are to come through their Champions League playoff tie against Besiktas on Wednesday.

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Oxlade-Chamberlain, 21, appeared in front of the media alongside Gunners manager Arsene Wenger at the club's London Colney training base on Tuesday.

And the England international suggested Besiktas have the potential to derail Arsenal's hopes of another appearance in the Champions League group stage after a 0-0 draw between the two sides in Turkey last week.

"They are going to come at us hard and we have to be in the right mindset to try and finish the job," Oxlade-Chamberlain told the news conference.

"Besiktas are a strong side and they have a lot of quality as well, they made it tough for us. At the end of the day, the draw was a good result for us, but we have to improve to go through.

"We know that if we can keep clean sheets, we have the quality at the other end to score goals. We can take confidence from that game, even if it wasn't the result we went there for. We went there to win.

"The technical side of our game could definitely improve from that performance. It was a tough pitch to play on, but that is no excuse. We wanted to pass the ball better than we did. The speed with which we moved the ball can improve. The fluidity wasn't there and we can do better."

Oxlade-Chamberlain went on to back striker Yaya Sanogo to fill the hole left by Olivier Giroud, who looks set to face a lengthy spell on the sidelines with a foot injury.

"I think Yaya is a very good player," Oxlade-Chamberlain said. "He gets into some really good positions and it just didn't fall for him in terms of scoring goals last season.

"He is a really good lad and he works really hard on and off the pitch. He wouldn't be at a club like Arsenal unless he was a really good talent and I'm sure the boss would say the same."