Wenger warns of Trez threat

Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal side that they must be wary of David Trezeguet.

Arsene Wenger has warned his Arsenal side that they must be wary of French international David Trezeguet when The Gunners take on Juventus in the UEFA Champions League quarter final.

The Bianconeri striker made his name at Monaco when Wenger coached the French outfit and has been consistently linked with a move to Highbury over the years.

However he is firmly a fixture in Fabio Capello's frontline and Wenger is well aware of the threat he poses to his young Arsenal side.

Juve visit Highbury on Tuesday and Wenger has warned his troops to be wary of the player he described as a 'Cobra'.

"Trezeguet is a snake - he is a bit quiet and then suddenly he kills you," said Wenger.

"Trezeguet is a guy who comes alive in the box. He does not upset you for half an hour but once you give him the chance, he will just kill you.

"Trezeguet is that type of snake - he is a cobra. He has a great intelligence in the box and a great sense of anticipation.

"He is right and left-footed and what is very dangerous with him, is that he is very good in the air."

The arrival of the Italian outfit will be a significant occasion with former Gunners captain Patrick Vieira returning to Highbury, and the prospect of the powerhouse midfielder facing Arsenal has again led to a focus on whether he should have been allowed to leave North London in the summer.

Wenger recently spoke of the pain of telling players that they were no longer wanted, but The Gunners boss has denied this applied to his former skipper.

Instead Wenger explained that the length of contract offered from Turin made it impossible for Arsenal to hold onto their inspiration of nine years.

"Patrick will be highly motivated for the Champions League above all the personal motivation. There is a semi-final place at stake," Wenger added.

"He had a superb offer from Juventus for a five-year contract. Patrick had only two years to go with us and we were not in a position at that time to extend his contract.

"Can you refuse a guy who has played for nine years for you to have an opportunity to take a five-year contract? I didn't want to do that and then tell him at 31 or 32 we could not extend it to the same level.

"I did not talk about specifically about Patrick in that interview in L'Equipe. I spoke in general terms that it is always hard for a player to accept he is finished.

"Patrick is 29 and age was, and is not, an issue for him. I was talking generally about players older than that."

Arsenal are widely expected to struggle against the Serie A leaders, but they disposed of nine-time winners Real Madrid in the previous round and are hopeful of pulling off another shock.

Whilst Wenger is wary of his side having to play at home in the first leg, he insists the victory over Real has given his side more belief in their abilities.

"What is different this time is that we have the first game at home," said Wenger.

"So you face a little bit of a psychological problem. In the first game you have to attack and you know that every goal you concede is a problem for you.

"So to find the right balance between attacking and defending well, without losing your enthusiasm going forward is a problem we will have to manage.

"But we believe that the Real Madrid result helped put more self-belief into our spirits."

As well as praising Trezeguet, Wenger also revealed he had tried and failed to sign Juve stopper Lilian Thuram on a number of occasions as he hailed Juve's defensive strengths.

"We knew against Real Madrid it would be two games where both teams would go for it. This time Juventus will play in a more restricted way.

"They are very experienced and the characteristic of such a team is that they will create maybe two chances and try to take one.

"They have a lot of experience in their squad. Lilian Thuram is the rock at the heart of their defence.

"He is a very strong boy mentally. He is highly focused and will never give up. He had the typical mentality to play in England. I tried to buy him many times but he was always too expensive."