Arsenal vs Bayern Munich - Team News, Match Preview & Likely Line-Ups

By Joseph Dempsey /

Date: Tuesday, 19th February Venue: Emirates Stadium K/o: 19:45 GMT

Team News

Centre-back Laurent Koscielny is a doubt ahead of the visit of Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich for this Champions League last-16 clash; the Frenchman will have his calf injury assessed ahead of kick off. Left-back Nacho Monreal is ineligible, while Kieran Gibbs misses out with a thigh injury. Fellow defender Carl Jenkinson returns to the side however following a one-match suspension. Bayern Munich will welcome back summer signing Javi Martinez, with the former Athletic Bilbao midfielder having recovered from a bruised toe. The German league leaders are however still without Claudio Pizarro through illness and defensive duo Holger Badstuber (knee) and Jerome Boateng (suspension) are also out.

Match Preview

The letter "B" is looking like a fairly ominous one for Arsenal in cup competitions this season. First, they were dumped out of the Capital One Cup in December by League 2 side Bradford, before being eliminated from the FA Cup last weekend by Championship outfit Blackburn Rovers. Now they face Bayern Munich, a team who are the runaway leaders of their division by 15 points and have won all of their last five games, including a 2-0 away win over Wolfsburg prior to this encounter. Contrastingly, Arsenal have not enjoyed such a fruitful last few months, with the Champions League now representing their only shot at silverware this season. The two teams last met in 2005, in the last-16. Arsenal claimed a 1-0 win at home but were defeated at Bayern's former home the Olympic Stadium 3-1 to go out 3-2 on aggregate. Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger will be hoping for a better result this time round if he is to salvage something this season.

Likely Line-Ups

Arsenal Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Jenkinson, Vermaelen, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott Bayern Munich Neuer, Lahm, Van Buyten, Dante, Alaba, Schweinsteiger, Martinez, Muller, Kroos, Ribery, Gómez Source: BBC

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