Date: Tuesday, 11 March Venue: Allianz Arena Kick-Off: 19:45
Team News
Arsenal are without Kieran Gibbs and Yaya Sanogo, who are both absent through injury, though Laurent Koscielny is available again after missing the weekend's victory against Everton. Lukas Fabianski will start in goal ahead of the suspended Wojciech Szczesny. The Gunners are also without Jack Wilshere, Aaron Ramsey, Kim Kallstrom, Nacho Monreal, Theo Walcott and Abou Diaby. Bayern Munich have a full squad to choose from as Frank Ribery returned to action at the weekend, when Bayern defeated Wolfsburg 6-1. The Frenchman previously missed the first-leg due to injury.
Key Stats
Bayern Munich hold the advantage over Arsenal after they secured a 2-0 victory at the Emirates two weeks again, leaving Arsenal with a mountain to climb for the third successive season at this stage. However, there is hope. Last year Arsenal defeated Bayern 2-0 at the Allianz but exited the competition due to the away goals rule. A similar result tonight would see the game enter extra-time. The London side's victory last year is their only win in five matches against the Bavarian side, with the Germans picking up three victories and scoring eight goals across the meetings. Arsenal have never scored more than two goals in a single match against Bayern Munich and their only clean sheet came in this stage last year. In order to progress and defy all the odds, Arsenal need to break their hoodoo.
Match Preview
Bayern Munich are currently flying high at the top of the table and they have scored 15 goals in their last three games, conceding just two. The Bavarians haven't conceded more than one goal in a single game since early December, when Manchester City won 3-2. The Germans haven't lost a game this calendar year and have only conceded three goals in that time, which has helped them secure a twenty point lead at the top of the Bundesliga, way ahead of nearest challenges Borussia Dortmund. Since defeat in the first-leg, Arsenal have won two games by a 4-1 margin and lost 1-0 to Stoke City. The Gunners haven't kept a clean in almost a month and they haven't won back-to-back games since January. However, Arsenal have scored eight goals in their last three games and were resilient at the weekend to overcome Everton at the Emirates. The match at the Allianz is a different scenario but they did it last year and it would be daft to write them off already. Unfortunately, Bayern Munich are currently the best side in the world and beating the Germans in notoriously difficult. Even if Arsenal can manage to do the unlikely there, it will be a much harder task to switch the aggregate score in their favour. Prediction 1-1 source- bbc football
Josh has had work featured in the Evening Gazette and on Newcastle United website. He is a Multimedia Journalism student at Teesside University and runs a successful sports blog. He also enjoys films, comics and TV, writing about anything he can. Josh has recently started writing his first of what he hopes will be many books.
