The last time Arsenal played in Russia it was cold, it was the Champions League, and it was a disappointing night for the English Premier League team.
On Tuesday, the Gunners will get another chance when they face CSKA Moscow in Group G.
Arsenal, which lost to Spartak Moscow 4-1 in late 2000 in the second group stage on a frozen field, has more cold weather ahead as it looks to stay perfect in this year's tournament.
``While I feel we can beat them, you always have ingredients in Moscow during October that you cannot master,'' Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said. ``I have heard that the quality of their pitch has been destroyed by a tournament, and it is already cold there now.''
Still, Arsenal is favoured to return to the second round. After reaching the Champions League final last year, the Gunners opened with wins over Hamburg and FC Porto.
A third straight win would give Arsenal a five-point lead in the group at the halfway stage.
``A victory would nearly qualify us, so of course we will really go for it,'' Wenger said. ``We want to qualify as soon as possible, because it is always a relief. You can go into the winter and focus on what is coming next.''
Arsenal, which has won four straight in the Premier League, will be without the injured Freddie Ljungberg, Julio Baptista and Emmanuel Eboue.
Those injuries don't make CSKA coach Valery Gazzayev feel any better, though.
``Arsenal has enough players for all their formations and a loss of one player is not that significant for them,'' Gazzayev said.
CSKA, which beat Rubin Kazan 2-1 last weekend to put it back in first place in the Russian league, beat Hamburg three weeks ago after an opening 0-0 draw with Porto. Three more points would put it in first place in Group G.
CSKA will be without injured Brazilian midfielder Jo, but two others Brazilians _ striker Vagner Love and playmaker Daniel Corvalho _ were rested over the weekend.
``We have no problems and are preparing for the match,'' Gazzayev said. ``Definitely we have our goal in this match.''
© The Canadian Press, 2007
