WENGER BACKS GUNNERS SQUAD

Arsene Wenger feels Arsenal can meet the challenge of a hectic fixture schedule head on.

The Gunners resume their Champions League campaign in Holland tonight against PSV Eindhoven, runners up in Liverpool's qualifying group.

There will be little time to digest the result in Holland as Wenger must then regroup his squad for the Carling Cup final against Chelsea at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday.

With an FA Cup fourth-round replay at Blackburn to come the following week, and another Barclays Premiership game against Manchester City now to re-arrange, Wenger's men will certainly have to dig deep to maintain their challenges on all fronts.

The Arsenal boss, though, is confident his squad have the quality to cope.

He said: "I feel that since December the team has taken off.

"The understanding within the squad is very good, there is a high spirit and we are ready for a big challenge.

"I am hoping for a good response.

"Against PSV, who have dominated Dutch football for a while now, you know you will get a tough game.

"We will try to play our game and score goals."

Wenger looks set to have to shuffle his defence, as right-back Justin Hoyte has picked up a hamstring problem.

More