Arsene Wenger: I’ll have an eye on the PSG game when Arsenal play Basel

ARSENE WENGER will have Paris AND Stoke on his mind tonight as he wrestles with his Champions League dilemma.

The Arsenal manager admitted he’d be keeping close tabs on Paris St-Germain’s home clash with Group A rivals Ludogorets.

And if the French side’s first-half performance suggests the Bulgarians can pull off a shock in the French capital, Wenger is set to pitch in man-of-the-moment Alexis Sanchez for the second-half.

If PSG fail to win – and bookies rate them 7-1 ON to be victorious – the Gunners will finish top of their group with a victory in Basel.

But Wenger is also aware he needs to plan ahead for Saturday’s tough trip to Stoke, where his second-placed team have lost three and drawn three in their last six Premier League visits.

It is understood Wenger is planning to keep Sanchez – the hat-trick hero in Saturday’s 5-1 win at West Ham – in reserve tonight.

Talking about the difference between finishing first and second in the group stages Wenger said: “The advantage of finishing first is you play the second leg at home, and possibly 30 minutes of extra time at home.

“We’ll see – PSG are favourites to beat Ludogorets at home and win the group, but we can assess that scoreline at half-time and see where we go.”

Wenger admitted Sanchez, the Premier League’s joint top scorer along with Diego Costa on 11 goals, was not an easy player to leave out, adding: “All the players at the top want to play, and are keen to play.

“He’s a bit more extroverted in how he shows it, but you do not get to his level if you don’t have a good passion to play at the game. He just shows it in a different way.

“It’s always hard predicting who is tired and who is not and very difficult knowing what is physical and what is mental.”

Wenger’s decision-making is further complicated by the fact Arsenal will definitely avoid Bayern Munich if they finish second in their group and also could miss out on Real Madrid.

But they could land Barcelona, who have dumped them out three times since 2010, if they are runners-up.

The Arsenal boss also said yesterday he hoped Sanchez and team-mate Mesut Ozil would not just think about the money in their talks with the club over new contracts.

Sanchez and the German playmaker both have just one full year left on their deals and reportedly are asking to be paid the same as Manchester United’s Paul Pogba – around £280,000 a week.

The careful north Londoners look extremely unlikely to go that high and Wenger said: “I would like to say the luxury of the modern game should be it’s not only about the money, because the players make anyway, wherever they play, good money at this level.

“Maybe I am a bit naive, but it’s more about getting to meet the players’ needs.

“That’s about the way the club has values, the way the club has ambition, the way the club respects the players.

“So I think, for me, that is more important nowadays and an important ingredient for every player to consider. The money is good everywhere for everybody.”