The Gunners travel to Bavaria for the UCL Quarter Final return leg following Sunday’s demoralising home defeat by Aston Villa. By contrast, Bayern enjoyed a relatively relaxed 2-0 runout the previous day against Bundesliga strugglers Koln.
The scale of Arsenal’s task is daunting: after four failures over almost 20 years, the Gunners must win a first Champions League knockout round against Bayern Munich.
Team news
Arsenal
Mikel Arteta has a full squad to select from, except for Jurrien Timber. The left-back position continues to present a dilemma for Arteta. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Jakub Kiwior have experienced defensive issues in the last two games and could give way to fit-again Takehiro Tomiyasu.
The manager will be tempted to revert to his strongest lineup at the top of the pitch: Kai Havertz in the false-nine position, supported by Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli on the wings. Jorginho is expected to resume at the base of midfield.
If the coaching staff feels that any players are too fatigued, there may be one or two surprises in the starting X1. The signs of tiredness were there against Villa on the weekend—selecting below-par players will be a huge gamble in a game of this magnitude.
Bayern Munich
Widemen Serge Gnabry and Kingsley Coman will miss out due to recent injuries. Manuel Neuer and Leroy Sane, who sat out Bayern’s last match, are expected to start.
Predicted XI
Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu, Jorginho, Rice, Odegaard, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli
What are the managers saying?
Mikel Arteta
on the effect of a win in Munich:
“Absolutely [it will make a statement], it will be unbelievable. If we make it happen tomorrow, we are in the semi-final, and we will be in a really highly emotional state – it’s something that we haven’t achieved as a club for the last 15-17 years, and that’s the opportunity.”
Thomas Tuchel
on the part experience plays in the big Champions League games:
“I think we have the slight advantage of the experience in our team. We have players who won it, we have players who played decisive matches in this competition; but to make it an advantage we have to still bring out the very best in us.
“It can also be sometimes an advantage to not have the experience, to just have the role as a contender, have the role as a hunter: that can also be a theme for Arsenal. To go for it, to be the guys who finally do it after so many years.”
Match prediction
Bayern Munich 0 – 1 Arsenal
How to watch
The match is being shown live in the UK on TNT Sports 2. Kick-off is 20.00 GMT
The post Bayern Munich vs Arsenal Preview: Can Arsenal be history makers? appeared first on AFTV.
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