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Arsenal vs Bayern Munich preview, team news, line-ups and prediction

By on April 8, 2024

Declan Rice Bukayo Saka Arsenal

Arsenal will look to secure a first leg advantage when we take on Bayern Munich in our Champions League quarter-final at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

Our stunning form in 2024 continued as Arsenal eased to an impressive 3-0 victory over Brighton at the Amex Stadium on Saturday evening. Bukayo Saka opened the scoring from the penalty spot after Gabriel Jesus was fouled in the area. Kai Havertz slotted home from close range to make it 2-0 before Leandro Trossard wrapped things up late on to secure another vital win.

That victory took the Gunners back to the top of the Premier League table and put the pressure on Liverpool ahead of their trip to Old Trafford on Sunday. Thankfully, Manchester United came from behind to draw 2-2 with Jurgen Klopp’s side. That result means Arsenal now sit top of the table on goal difference from Liverpool with Manchester City one point behind in third.

The title race couldn’t be any closer and Arsenal are right in the mix heading into the last seven games. We’re certainly the in-form team as Arsenal have taken an incredible 31 points from the last 33 with 10 wins and a draw away to City. Perhaps what’s even more incredible is that despite this run, we’re only top on goal difference and don’t have a sizeable lead over our rivals.

Arsenal have a tough run-in so we should just take it one game at a time and try to keep our impressive run going for as long as we can. It certainly seems like the players have learned from last year’s collapse. It was around this time in 2023 that we imploded, but there is no sign of that this time around. In fact, Arsenal are getting stronger, so we appear to be in a better position to push on and clinch the title.

However, this year, we also have Champions League football to contend with. Not only are we battling Man City and Liverpool for the title this year, but we also have to juggle Premier League and European fixtures. The added games and mental strain of playing in big Champions League matches will take a toll on the players, so that’s something that Mikel Arteta has to manage carefully.

Mighty Munich

We need to put the title race to the back of our minds as our focus now turns to Champions League football and a huge quarter-final first leg against the mighty Bayern Munich. The Emirates should be rocking and demand for tickets is as high as I’ve ever known. Supporters have been desperately trying to buy sold-out Champions League tickets online and it’s important every seat is filled so we can make an intimidating atmosphere.

After breezing through the group stages, Arsenal were taken all the way by a ‘street wise’ Porto side in the last-16. We somehow managed to lose the first leg 1-0 in Portugal after Porto scored a last minute stunner. It was a poor performance from us in the first leg so hopefully the players won’t make that same mistake this time. Arsenal won the second leg 1-0 to level the tie and we couldn’t find a winner in extra time so it went to penalties. David Raya was the Arsenal hero as he saved two spot kicks to book our place in the quarter finals.

Arsenal have been drawn to face Bayern Munich with the winner playing either Man City or Real Madrid in the semi-finals. So it’s safe to say we’ll have to do it the hard way if we’re to make it all the way to the final. Bayern will obviously be a tough test as they have a squad packed with quality. They also have the deadly Harry Kane up front and we all know how much he likes to score against Arsenal [14 goals in 19 games].

However, the good news is Bayern aren’t at their best this season. They’ve struggled for consistency in the Bundesliga and have almost certainly lost out on the title to Bayer Leverkusen as they sit 16 points behind in second place. They come into this game after blowing a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 away to FC Heidenheim on Saturday, so Arsenal should have nothing to fear. Thomas Tuchel has already confirmed he’s leaving in the summer and the players don’t look like they are playing for him anymore, so this is a great opportunity for Arsenal to avenge all those painful losses to Bayern in the Champions League.

Team news

Arsenal almost have a fully fit squad to choose from. Jurrien Timber is the only absentee as he’s still building up his fitness following a serious ACL injury that he suffered on the opening weekend of the season. The Dutchman has been training for the last few weeks but he’s not ready to return to action just yet.

Bukayo Saka missed the win over Luton Town last week with a knock but recovered to start against Brighton. He still didn’t look 100% and was substituted after 65 minutes on Saturday but he should still be fine to start tomorrow night.

Gabriel Magalhaes was seen limping against Brighton after picking up an ankle knock. He’ll be assessed at training but should be given the go-ahead to start against Munich.

As for the visitors, they have some injury problems to deal with. Manuel Neuer, Kingsley Coman, Leroy Sane, Noussair Mazraoui and Aleksandar Pavlovic all missed the loss to Heienheim at the weekend and Tuchel says they are doubts to face Arsenal.

Gabriel Marusic, Tarek Buchmann, Bouna Sarr, Sacha Boey and Noel Aseko are definitely ruled out for the Germans.

Likely line-ups

Arteta could freshen things up from the win at Brighton with Oleksandr Zinchenko’s place at risk. The boss may want a more secure figure at left-back with Jacub Kiwior and Takehiro Tomiyasu both pushing for recalls.

Gabriel Martinelli is also available again and he could be recalled on the left wing. Gabriel Jesus would be the man to make way as Kai Havertz is likely to keep his place up front.

Thomas Partey is another player pushing for a recall and I’d actually like to see him starting in midfield. However, I think Arteta will stick with Jorginho – who’s a man for the big occasion.

Possible Arsenal XI: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Jorginho, Odegaard, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli

Possible Bayern XI: Ulreich; Kimmich, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Goretzka, Laimer; Muller, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane

Prediction

Arsenal come into the game in superb form and will be confident of picking up a positive result tomorrow. This is a good opportunity to beat Bayern and we need to be brave to secure a first leg win that we can protect away in Germany.

The visitors aren’t at their best but just looking at the possible line-up above shows you how much quality they still have throughout the team. Therefore, it would be stupid to underestimate them, especially in the Champions League.

I’m still expecting an extremely tough game and we’ll have to be at our best to win, but I’m backing Arteta’s men to secure a narrow first leg advantage. Arsenal 2-1 Bayern