Johan Djourou: Not qualifying for Champions League would be unthinkable for Arsenal

Johan Djourou – Arsenal, (Getty Images)

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Swiss defender Johan Djourou believes it would be ‘unthinkable’ for Arsenal not to progress to the Uefa Champions League Group stages next season.

The Gunners have been in this situation before when they qualified for the Champions League in 2009 having beaten Celtic in the play-off and Djourou believes they can do the same.

He told Sky Sports: “We have to be in the Champions League – it would be unthinkable not to be.

“We have to make sure we get through the play-off. We are quite capable of doing it – we have nothing to fear.

“We’ve been in this situation before against Celtic and it wasn’t ideal, but we got the job done.

“We know last season was not the best but we have a chance to put that behind us now and have some success.”

Arsene Wenger’s side have been seeded in the draw for the ‘non-champions’ section and could face some tough opposition such as Udinese, Dynamo Kiev or Rubin Kazan.

The draw will be made on August 5 in Nyon.