Klaas-Jan Huntelaar fired up despite draining derby

 
EPA/Andy Rain
James Olley24 October 2012

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar insists Schalke are not jaded from their derby victory at Borussia Dortmund and believes his team are ready to cause an upset against Arsenal tonight.

The German side earned a hard‑fought 2-1 success in the Ruhr derby on Saturday to cement third place in the Bundesliga.

Schalke conceded a late equaliser to drop two points against Montpellier on their last outing in the Champions League but Huntelaar insists fatigue will not be an issue at Emirates Stadium this evening.

He said: “It was obviously a tough game against Dortmund. You could see some of the players were out on their feet at the end. I found it very difficult myself from the 80th minute. But when you’re 2-1 up in a game like that, you don’t notice it as much. We’ll recuperate and then go again in London.

“We’ll be really motivated going into the game but that’s more to do with our opponents rather than the game against Montpellier.

“Obviously it was a shame that we gave away two points against Montpellier but we’ve put that behind us now. We’re focused on Arsenal and are determined to take something from the game.

“If we show the same attitude against Arsenal as we did against Dortmund, we’ve got a chance. We have to make sure we close down the spaces. Arsenal have very good midfielders. We can’t afford to concentrate solely on defending, though. We have to go forward like we did in Dortmund.”

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