Arsenal are looking to move another step closer to sealing automatic qualification into the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League this evening, however fewer tests will be more difficult than Bayern Munich, who come to London top of the League Phase.
Arsenal looking to improve on their poor record against Bayern Munich
The Gunners have a very poor record in the Champions League against Bayern Munich, especially at home, where they have only won twice: a 1-0 win in 2004/05 at Highbury and a 2-0 win in 2015/16 at the Emirates.
Overall, Bayern are unbeaten in the last five matches they have played against Arsenal, four of them being knockout ties, including the infamous 10-2 result back in 2017.
The last time they met was in the quarter-finals of the 2023/24 campaign; Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal an early lead before former Gunner Serge Gnabry and England captain, Harry Kane scored a penalty before half-time for yet another goal at the Emirates. Leandro Trossard then levelled in the second half, and 2-2 was how it finished.
In the second leg in Munich, Arsenal were nowhere near the level of Bayern, and a Joshua Kimmich header in the second half was enough to send the Gunners out of the Champions League that season.
Eze and Olise - The reunion
Wednesday night’s game will mark a reunion of two players who lit up the Premier League at Crystal Palace: Michael Olise and Ebere Eze.
While they were together at the Eagles, they combined eight times, with Olise providing Eze for the goals.
In a way it’s fitting that both come into this game off the back of man of the match performances, Eze was the hero in the derby with the first ever hat-trick in the fixture during the Premier League era, while Frenchman Olise had three assists to go with a brace during Bayern’s 6-2 thrashing of Freiburg.
Both players' friendship was strengthened at Palace due to a love of chess - something that Olise himself taught Eze how to play.
After what’s been a brilliant week for the boyhood Arsenal fan, to score his first ever Champions League goal on Wednesday would be another special moment.
The return of the skipper - How Martin Ødegaard can make a difference for Arsenal
What the signing of Eze has helped Arsenal to do is keep their creative numbers up even without captain Martin Ødegaard.
In what’s been a blistering start to the season so far for Arsenal, it’s been quite the opposite for the Norwegian through no fault of his own.
Ødegaard has had to deal with multiple injury problems so far this season; firstly a shoulder issue saw him forced off against both Leeds and then Nottingham Forest before an MCL injury saw him come off against West Ham. He’s the first player in Premier League history to be substituted in the first half of three consecutive league starts.
Despite the extremely unlucky injuries, he has shown glimpses of his top form. In the 2-0-win Olympiacos, he was man of match and recorded an assist for Saka’s goal, though his best performance was when he came on at 1-1 in the final eight minutes against Newcastle and completely controlled the game himself, ending up with the assist for Gabriel’s header.
Though last season not being his best in comparison to the previous two, Ødegaard still created the most chances of the Arsenal team in the Premier League (63) and Champions League (17), though the dip is noticeable from 23/24 in the league (103).
One way that the style change for Arsenal will benefit the skipper is the higher number of through balls; the Gunners have played the most through balls in the Premier League this season (43). This benefits Ødegaard in that during World Cup qualifying, he completed the most through balls (9) and has completed the second most in Europe’s top five leagues since 2022/23 (48), only behind Portugal midfielder Bruno Fernandes (51).
The thought for Mikel Arteta will be who he picks to play in midfield between Eze and Ødegaard, though in his pre- match presser he stated: “The priority is for the team to be as efficient as possible and to win football matches as a priority number one.”
The return of the captain is a factor that will benefit Arsenal’s chances of a major trophy massively.