Arsenal nowhere near as dangerous as Dortmund, says Defour

goal.com

The holding midfielder was distinctly unimpressed with Arsene Wenger's side in Wednesday night's dramatic home defeat to the Gunners.

Anderlecht midfielder Steven Defour claims Champions League rivals Arsenal are overly reliant upon the individual brilliance of Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck and are nowhere near as dangerous as Borussia Dortmund.

Late goals from Kieran Gibbs and Lukas Podolski gifted the Gunners a barely deserved 2-1 win at the Constant Vandenstock Stadium on Wednesday night, after Andy Najar had put the Belgian champions ahead.

Defour was distinctly unimpressed by Arsene Wenger's side, claiming that they do not carry anything like the same attacking threat as Group D leaders Borussia Dortmund, who triumphed 3-0 in Brussels on matchday two.

“Arsenal were hoping for a moment of brilliance from Alexis Sanchez or Danny Welbeck and didn’t have many runners from midfield. Dortmund’s midfielders seemed to be coming from everywhere three weeks ago,” Defour told Goal.

“Three weeks ago, Dortmund outplayed us and we have to accept they were the better team, but I don’t think Arsenal were stronger than we were.”

However, the former Porto man feels Anderlecht’s tactics also played a role in Arsenal’s struggles at the Constant Vandenstock Stadium.

“But I think we were better organised this time around than against Dortmund as well. We deliberately sat deep because we knew we were facing a good team.

"They can play some great football, so we needed that bit of extra certainty. We wanted to hit them on the counterattack and I think we did well.”