Pain in the Arsenal
Fansided

Arsenal Vs Bayern Munich: 3 Things To Watch For

By Max Prestwich

facebooktwitterreddit

Venue: Emirates Stadium

Date: Oct 20

After two lackluster performances in the Champions League against upstarts Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiakos, Arsenal are alone at the bottom of the group and in desperate need of a win. Unfortunately for them, the European schedule does not get any easier as they get set to face German Bundesliga leaders FC Bayern Munchen, who bring a conglomeration of world class stars from attack to defense.

All hope is not lost however. Arsenal enter into this game riding high after a duo of 3-0 victories over Premier League opponents Manchester United and Watford respectively. They have plenty of momentum on their side and will need all of it in order to pull out a result against the German club.

The Gunners are finally starting to look confident both in front of the net and around the back but questions still remain. Will Giroud or Walcott start up front? How will Cech respond to the added pressure of European football (hopefully better than Ospina)? And how is Wenger going to deal with Aaron Ramsey?

Prediction: Arsenal 2 – 1 Bayern Munich

1) Sanchez is key… as always

Maybe I’m stating the obvious here…. okay, so I’m definitely stating the obvious here. Alexis is just that crucial. He seems to be everywhere doing everything. Heck, the guy could probably play keeper better than Ospina can. Sanchez is the best player on the team, and the most likely to contribute to a goal. If I had to bet on an Arsenal player scoring in this match, you better believe your bottom dollar I’m betting on Sanchez.

According to Squawka, Alexis has a shot accuracy of 60%, with six goals and 15 total chances created. Those stats are nothing short of impressive considering Arsenal have only played nine premier league games so far.

2) Theo Walcott, not Olivier Giroud, should start up front

More from Pain in the Arsenal

This is definitely a more controversial topic but I can guarantee you that I’m not just being biased because I own a Walcott jersey. Walcott and Giroud both have their personal strengths and weaknesses. While Walcott is much quicker, Giroud is often deadly with his head. However, considering that Walcott started the last two games and both happened to be impressive three-nil victories, why change something that seems to work? I wholeheartedly believe that Giroud plays better as an impact sub anyway. After all, he did happen to score in the last game coming off the bench. People may ask why start Walcott… to them, I say “why not”?

3) Defense plays a crucial role as well

Arsenal’s defense will head into the game filled with momentum after back to back clean sheets for the first time since early September. Having said that, it will require nothing less than 100% effort from all defenders in order to make it three in a row. The defense simply cannot afford to give away sloppy goals like it did against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos earlier in the campaign. Petr Cech in goal certainly helps but even he won’t be able to keep everything out if the defenders don’t perform up to par. The defense is up against arguably one of the most explosive clubs in the entire world, so this will certainly not be a simple task. But challenging doesn’t mean impossible.

More from European Comps

Not many people expected Arsenal to still be searching for their first points at this point in the group stage. But winning a game of this magnitude would be an incredible confidence booster. The momentum is on the Gooners side and knowing how unpredictable they can be in European football, I say that Arsenal will scrape a historic 2-1 victory thanks to a goal and an assist from Alexis Sanchez.

Next: 10 Worst Signings Under Arsene Wenger

More from Pain in the Arsenal

Home/European Comps