LONDON (AP) -Steve McClaren's experience as England manager may not be of much use to him when his FC Twente team takes on Arsenal when qualifying for the Champions League continues this week.
McClaren watched countless Premier League matches during his 16 months in charge of his country but not much of his time was spent mulling Arsenal since the Gunners have few English players in their first-team squad.
Only winger Theo Walcott is likely to be wholly familiar to the Englishman when the Dutch club he joined in June hosts Arsenal in one of Wednesday's 15 third qualifying round matches.
McClaren hasn't sounded entirely confident of beating an Arsenal side that reached the Champions League final just two years ago and finished third in last season's Premier League after producing some of the most thrilling football in English topflight history.
Twente isn't expected to do much in Europe and, even with the riches on offer to the 32 teams who make the Champions League group stages, McClaren seems to be looking at the match more for what it means to the club's season as a whole.
Twente has never won the Dutch league, which is traditionally dominated by PSV Eindhoven, Ajax and Feyenoord, and counts just two Dutch Cups as its major honors. So McClaren is hoping a match against the likes of Emmanuel Adebayor, Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas could help lift his players for the coming domestic season.
"Playing Arsenal will be a great experience for the players and if they don't become better players after playing against Arsenal, they shouldn't be in football," McClaren said. "That's how you learn. That's how you grow and playing against one of the best teams in Europe, obviously the players will grow from that."
But a win against Arsenal would go some way to rehabilitating McClaren's reputation, even if the Gunners did overturn any deficit in the second leg on Aug. 27.
McClaren was fired as England manager last year when the team failed to reach the European Championship for the first time in 24 years. He said he opted to move to the Netherlands after speaking to one of his predecessors as England manager, Bobby Robson - who won the Dutch championship with PSV Eindhoven.
"Bobby said, 'Go, go to Holland. It's a great place to work,' and he said, 'I had two great years at PSV.' And he said, 'Go on your own. You will love it. The people are good, good people, good coaches, good players.'
"And he is right so far."
Arsenal, though, is a Champions League regular and is likely to be too strong for a team making its tournament debut after winning last season's Dutch league playoff.
With Abou Diaby injured, Denilson could play in central midfield alongside Fabregas - who starred in Spain's Euro 2008 final win over Germany - after the pair impressed together in a preseason friendly against Sevilla.
