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Arsenal latest: Kanoute confident of Sevilla success

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Kanoute confident of Sevilla success

Kanoute played for both West Ham and the Gunners' arch-rivals Tottenham during a five-year stint in England before joining Sevilla in 2005, and the Mali international is hoping for a happy trip back to England.

Sevilla open their Champions League group stage at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, and Kanoute sees no reason why the back-to-back UEFA Cup winners cannot begin with a victory over Arsenal.

"I believe that we can win, I have faith that we can go far in the competition but we will have to see after each game," said Kanoute, who scored twice on Sunday as Sevilla downed Recreativo Huelva 4-1 in La Liga.

"We are going to have matches in the Champions League that are much more difficult than in the UEFA Cup, but the team is prepared and ready for this competition.

"We have a better squad than last year, with more experience, and more players. For every position there are two or three players."

Sevilla's victory over Recreativo was their second successive 4-1 win of the Spanish season, and they are currently second in the table with six points from two games - three points behind leaders Real Madrid.

Arsenal are also flying high in the Premier League, with Saturday's 3-1 derby win over Spurs lifting them to the top of the table.

Kanoute knows it is not going to be easy for his side on Wednesday, saying: "Arsenal are a team who play very fast going forward, and who are very attacking.

"We can win, I know their team and if we can nullify their key player, Cesc (Fabregas), and we start quickly as always, I believe we can achieve the win."

Confident though he is of a good result in north London, Kanoute still believes Arsenal are the slight favourites to progress from a Champions League group that also includes Steaua Bucharest and Slavia Prague.

"Arsenal are bigger favourites than us because they have more experience in this competition," said the 30-year-old.

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