Arsenal face
TOUGH TASK
LONDON: Free-scoring strikers Alexis Sanchez of Arsenal and Robert Lewandowski of Bayern Munich will be looking to keep the goals flowing in their bid to help win their pivotal Champions League Group F match in north London on Tuesday.
After failing to score in his first eight matches of the season, Chilean Sanchez has netted 10 goals in his last six for club and country, while Lewandowski has scored
22 for club and country this season, including 15 in his last seven matches.
He failed to find the net in Bayern’s 1-0 win over Werder Bremen on Saturday but has not gone two matches without scoring all season.Even if he does have an off-day, Arsenal will have Thomas Mueller to worry about after his 15 goals so far this season.
The Bayern front men pose a big threat to an Arsenal defence that has performed reasonably well in the Premier League but badly in the Champions League. The side are bottom of Group F, having lost their opening two group matches for the first time.
Bayern top the group with six points. Olympiakos Piraeus, who won 3-2 at Arsenal three weeks ago, have three, as do Dinamo Zagreb, while Arsenal have none.
If Bayern win they are likely to seal their place in the last 16 with matches to spare. If Arsenal lose, it is difficult to see them qualifying and they cannot afford to drop any more points when Bayern visit for the third time in four seasons. After losing to Olympiakos, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger admitted his side faced a huge fight to qualify.
“It is still possible of course to qualify but it is difficult to swallow losing a game like that and we have a big battle ahead of us,” he said.
Wenger faced a wave of criticism for resting first choice keeper Petr Cech for the match and playing his reserve David Ospina instead, and it would be a big surprise if Cech was left out again as he has played a big role in Arsenal’s two wins since then keeping two clean sheets.
If they lose against Bayern, they may hear the warning bells of early elimination from the European competition.
Although Robert Lewandowski Bayern Munich visit the Emirates Stadium for a Champions League clash that is as good as must-win for Arsenal. With the Bavarians in sublime form, Arsenal, yet to open their account in Group F, might have more on their hands than they can deal with, or they might just be the team to speed bump the Germans’ impeccable campaign. HT looks at how the teams stack up:
did not manage to score for Bayern on the weekend, his record of 15 goals in the last seven games for club and country still makes him the most feared marksman in Europe at the moment.
Arsenal have a talisman of their own. Alexis Sanchez has picked up great goal-scoring form with 10 goals in his last six matches for club and country.
all matches so far.
The confidence level is there, the needed result is there as well— we know exactly what is required (because) a 0-0 is not even a good result. To score goals, we have to attack.
In the Champions league alone, Bayern have scored eight goals in two matches and are yet to concede a goal.
On the other hand, Bayern’s high-scoring form saw a slight dip on the weekend when they got a slim 1-0 win over Werder Bremen thanks to a Thomas Mueller goal. However, they seem in prime form. Wins:
5 goals Arsenal have scored against
Bayern. WWLWW WWWWW Wins:
9 goals scored by Bayern against Arsenal. ARSENE WENGER, Arsenal manager