Date: Tuesday, November 26 Venue: Emirates Stadium Kick-Off: 19:45 Arsenal can qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the 14th successive season if they beat Marseille and Borussia Dortmund fail to defeat Napoli in Group F's other game.
Team News
Arsenal will welcome Mathieu Flamini back into the side following the completion of the midfielder's suspension for picking up five yellow cards this season. Forward Theo Walcott is also in contention having made his return from an abdominal injury as a substitute against Southampton at the weekend. Yaya Sanogo (back), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Abou Diaby (both knee) and Lukas Podolski (match fitness) remain out. Marseille manager Elie Baup could make serious changes to his side tonight, with any hope of qualifying for the knock-out stages gone. He will definitely be without Andre Ayew (knee) for the visit to the Emirates, which could mean a start for his brother, Jordan, and André-Pierre Gignac. Right-back Rod Fanni is out with an abductor injury, but Lucas Mendes returns from an ankle problem. (bbc)
Key Stats
Arsenal last month became the first side ever to keep a clean sheet against Napoli in the Champions League. Marseille have lost each of their last seven Champions League games, their worst run ever in the competition. Arsenal have lost three of their last five Champions League home games (W2). Marseille have won on only one of their seven trips to England in the Champions League (vs Liverpool in October 2007). (eurosport)
Arsenal could have their place in the knockout stages of the Champions League confirmed tonight if they beat pointless Marseille at home. By contrast, any hope of the French club qualifying from the group has gone - they are without a single point in Group F having lost four games on the spin, including a 2-1 defeat in this reverse fixture. A chance then for Marseille manager Elie Baup to rotate his side with nothing to play for, and a golden opportunity for the Gunners to reach the latter stages of this competition for a 14th successive time. That will depend on results elsewhere, however, with second placed Napoli travelling to third placed Borussia Dortmund in what promises to be another enticing tie. If the Germans fail to beat the Italians, Arsene Wenger's men are through if they can see off a Marseille side who haven't won on English soil in six years. However, Wenger refuses to take the three points it would take to push his side up to 12 - usually enough to qualify from the group stages - as a given. He warned:
"They have quality, they are in a better period at the moment because they won their last two games and that makes them a dangerous team to play against. "We know that Tuesday is a very big game in that final stage of the qualifiers. We have an opportunity to do it at home. "You say 12 points may not be enough, it is true, but it might as well be enough and maybe already tomorrow, so let's get the 12 points."
Joseph is an accredited football journalist and has interviewed nearly all of the current 20 Barclay's Premier League managers. He is also a correspondent for Bleacher Report and has written for Caught Offside and Give Me Football.
