What happens when the world’s two best teams tussle? When Arsenal met Bayern Munich in the Champions League on Wednesday night, we found out. And the result wasn’t close.
On Wednesday night, we found out what happens when a seemingly unstoppable force meets an immovable object. One of them cracks.
The UEFA Champions League’s heavyweight clash on Matchday 5 pitted the two best teams in Europe against each other, as Arsenal hosted Bayern Munich at the Emirates. That’s not just conjecture, either, with those two sides sitting atop the Opta Power Rankings:
Opta Power Rankings - Top 10 Nov 2025
And with very good reason. Arsenal and Bayern have been Europe’s standout sides this season, with both looking heavy favourites to win their domestic league titles.
Mikel Arteta’s side came into the contest on a 15-game unbeaten run, with eight wins from nine at the Emirates, while Bayern were unbeaten everywhere, winning 17 of their 18 matches in all competitions. Together, they had combined to win 32 of their 36 games in 2025-26 on the eve of this clash.
Both teams have been extreme in their dominance, though in different ways. Arsenal have the best defence in Europe by some distance. Including this game, they’ve conceded just 0.37 goals per match in all competitions, and only 0.55 expected goals per game. Both are by far the best marks of any team across Europe’s top five leagues.
Bayern, by contrast, have been Europe’s most devastating attacking side. They’ve already scored 65 goals in 2025-26, 17 more than PSG in second, averaging a wild 3.4 goals per game. Heading to the Emirates, they’d scored at least twice in every game this campaign.
So what happens when those two forces collide? One of them breaks – but not in the way that many expected.
After a tight and evenly contested first half, which saw Jurrien Timber‘s header cancelled out by Lennart Karl, Arsenal blew Bayern away in the second half.
Much of that was down to Mikel Arteta’s substitutions, which changed the game. Two of them combined to put Arsenal ahead, with Riccardo Calafiori bursting down the left to cross for Noni Madueke‘s first Arsenal goal, before Gabriel Martinelli added a third on the break.
It was very notable that Arsenal grew and grew in strength as the game wore on, with Bayern barely hanging on at times. Ten of Arsenal’s 13 shots and six of their seven shots on target came in the second period, during which they generated 2.3 expected goals.
Arsenal 3-1 Bayern Munich - xG race map
It was a total performance. Arsenal were threatening from open play, devastating in transition and once again dangerous from set-pieces.
In the end, they amassed 3.11 expected goals on the night, which is an incredible total against a team of Bayern’s calibre. In the entire Opta database, Bayern have conceded 3+ xG in a match only seven times, and last instance came more than three years ago, in April 2022 against Mainz.
Arsenal 3-1 Bayern Munich - xG shot map
Equally impressively, Arsenal shut down the best attacking unit in Europe. Bayern managed just eight shots and 0.65 xG, their lowest return in any match this season. Harry Kane didn’t have a single shot – the first time in his career he has played 90 minutes against Arsenal without attempting one. Bayern simply couldn’t progress the ball into meaningful areas, restricted to just seven touches in the Arsenal box after half-time.
And Arsenal did all this without three starters: Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Magalhães and Viktor Gyökeres. What’s clear is that there is now no meaningful drop-off when Arteta rotates or when his bench is called upon. If anything, substitutions make Arsenal stronger, as was the case on Wednesday.
This was statistically Arsenal’s biggest test of the season, and they passed it with flying colours. They are the only team in the Champions League with a perfect record and are six points clear at the top of the Premier League. The number one team in the world could very well be holding both trophies come the end of the season.
Premier League Stats Opta
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