Arsenal will travel to Germany at a time when they are not at their most confident, having only won one of their last 3 games in the League. “In the Champions League, all teams are trying to play football”.
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By claiming top spot, the Gunners gave themselves what seemed like their best chance of getting a favourable draw for the last 16.
“In my eyes I don’t think they are really in the Premier League race at the moment.”But it could be a really disastrous next four or five games for Arsenal”.
The argument about too many games, too many fixtures – and I heard radio talk about possibly altering the FA Cup to playing only one game with no replays – personally I think is rubbish.
“A modern day player has to be equipped to do both and I don’t know that Arsenal get enough from Ozil when they don’t have the ball. So what we want is to do well and qualify against Bayern Munich”.
Arsenal and Bayern have recent history in the Champions League with the Bavarians dispatching them from the 2013 and 2014 iterations of the competition but Hitzfeld believes the gap between the two has closed.
“We need to focus on the performance”.
Bayern haven’t been as tight defensively under Ancelotti as they were under his predecessor, and Arsenal nearly always score away from home. The Bavarians lead the Bundesliga by 7 points now and have several players in their side who can turn a game in seconds.
Alex Iwobi is the most obvious choice and has played the number 10 role quite well already this season.
The Telegraph report that the Arsenal chief is poised to keep the faith in deputy stopper David Ospina, who has appeared in all six of their group-stage games earlier in the competition.
“This guy is a victor and a champion, so I have no doubts about him”, added Ancelotti of Muller.
The English club have only won two of their last six encounters against the German giants, including a 5-1 hammering at the Allianz Arena last season. The prospect of playing the first leg away means they have the first crack at notching up some vital away goals.
For Arsene Wenger, the outcome of Arsenal’s Champions League showdown with Bayern Munich could well be make or break for one of the longest-serving managers in European soccer.
Ozil played the full 90 minutes in Arsenal’s victory at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, which saw Wenger’s side go level on points with Tottenham in second.
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If the Frenchman does drop Ozil then the big question is who will take his place.
