Arsenal host Bayern Munich tonight as we look to do the highly unexpected, and somehow overturn our devastating 5-1 defeat in Germany.
We fought hard in the opening half of the first-leg to get back into the match having gone a goal behind early on, and went into the interval level at 1-1. This turned out to be the high-point of the game, as we lost stand-in captain Laurent Koscielny shortly after the break, before a gut-wrenching 10 minutes in which we suffered three goals.
We now have the huge task of trying to gain a four-goal win at the Emirates tonight, whilst not conceding more than one goal, otherwise a five-goal defeat of the Germans will somehow be needed…
Well ignoring the fantasy for now, we come into the game on the back of a loss, although with both of our two top scorers having been benched this weekend, will hopefully be fresh to give us our best chance of trying to claw our way back.
Theo Walcott and Alexis have a combined tally of 35 goals in all competitions this term, and they will need to be at their best tonight. Mesut Ozil will not return having already missed the Liverpool loss due to illness, and with Ramsey freshly back to replace him in the centre we will probably have a more attacking formation that against Liverpool.
Predicted XI:
Ospina
Bellerin Koscielny Mustafi Monreal
Coquelin Oxlade
Walcott Ramsey Iwobi
Alexis
As usual, we come into the second leg of this round trailing, and we will of course react by winning the return leg, albeit just missing out on qualification for the next stage. It would be a very Arsenal thing to do to win 6-2 tonight, and be eliminated on away goals, but Bayern wont be rolling over. I expect us to come away with a 3-2 win, with our need to get forward opening our defence up also.
How many first-half goals would be needed to give us the belief at the interval? What are your score predictions?
Pat J