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"The Irish are a very difficult team to play against," said Pires, named as the left winger in Raymond Domenech's starting eleven tonight.
"A lot of their players play in the English Premiership and they don't give anything away easily.
"It will be a very hard game - our first true test against one of our qualification rivals. We'll learn a lot from Saturday, and concentration will be the key," added 77-times capped Pires, who played in both France's opening qualifiers.
The former Marseille star, who has netted three times in five Premiership appearances for the Gunners this term, has 14 international goals to his name.