But other players on the sidelines include Hector Bellerin (groin), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Theo Walcott (calf), Mikel Arteta (ankle/foot), Aaron Ramsey (hamstring), Jack Wilshere (ankle), Tomas Rosicky (knee) and Danny Welbeck (knee).
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Bayern were ahead on nine minutes through Lewandowski, who beat Arsenal’s offside trap to head home Thiago Alcantara’s cross into the bottom right corner from eight yards.
But its wretched first half performance shouldn’t escape criticism – it was woeful.
Costly defeats to Dynamo Zagreb and Olympiacos mean a result for the latter in Munich next time out would see Wenger’s men knocked out – even if they win their final two Group F matches. Olympiakos have to win here and we have to beat Zagreb at home, then beat Olympiakos away. “I believe in the PL we have a strong confidence and we want to reproduce it on Sunday against Tottenham”.
“We will learn a lot from this game, we must learn a lot and we have to play better against Tottenham”, said the Germany global.
The Gunners were thumped 5-1 at the Allianz Arena on Wednesday night to leave hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages slim.
The general sentiment was if they were out of Europe they could concentrate on their challenge for the Premier League title without the need for draining Thursday night fixtures in the second half of the season.
That game gave Arsenal their only three points and placed them at third place in this group. Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech palmed a Mueller shot over the bar, but Bayern went into the break 3-0 up when left-back Alaba unleashed a fierce left-footed shot which flew past the Gunners shot-stopper.
I would suggest that a few of the players in that back four are not the best defenders and the strength of many of those players is going forward.
“Should Arsenal have bought more players over the summer? Against the top teams, you can not have one weakness, they will keep exposing it”, said Mark Lawrenson of the BBC. Mesut Ozil did get the ball in the back of the net, after their first goal, but it was rightly ruled out after the German midfielder looked to have used his arm. “If we win our next game, we should be through”.
Coach Pep Guardiola brought on Robben early in the second half and the Dutchman delivered instantly, killing off the game 37 seconds later with his first touch from an Alaba cutback.
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He said: “You (need to) win two games and we need to make sure that the head to head against Olympiacos is in our favour”.
