Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund Preview

Lately, it seems Arsenals next match is always the most crucial or must-win one of the year. This Champions League face-off between the Gunners and the German titleholders Borussia Dortmund indeed, follows suit. Fresh off of a 2-1 win at Carrow Road over Norwich City, Arsenal have the advantage of playing under the Emirates lights with a win promising qualification to the knockout stages and anything less, likely to mount great pressure on Arsenal's CL chances. Their previous Robin Van Persie-less CL draw to Marseille underlined the captains immense importance to Arsenal's scoring so far. His scintillating form will hopefully have a say in the outcome of this match. If the Arsenal fail to wrestle 3 points away from Jurgen Klopps men then a Marseille win would see the French unit leapfrog Arsenal to the top of the CL table. Le Boss feels the Gunners are capable of winning the match,
“It will be a different challenge, but today was an important sign that we can also do this at Arsenal.”
-Arsene Wenger
Theo Walcott also firmly believes in the cause. “We are playing beautiful football at this moment in time,” Walcott said. “Robin up front makes our jobs so much easier. He’s one of the best strikers in the world right now. We can keep on winning.”

Borussia Dortmund hold just as much to lose against the Gunners, an Arsenal victory accompanied by a Marseille win would mean it would be mathematically impossible for Die Borussen to qualify to the next round. They are sure to be arriving at the Emirates with a certain confidence after toppling German CL favorites Bayern Munich with a slim 1-0 away win on Saturday. Their Champions League fortune hasn't been quite as sweet as they've lost 2 out of their last 3 CL outings and will be hoping to rectify these defeats on Wednesday. Jurgen Klopp had this to say following their 1-0 victory on Saturday.
“Practically nothing tops beating good teams. We managed that against Bayern and we can do that again on Wednesday."

Projected Lineups

Arsenal Subs: Lukasz Fabianski, Johan Djourou, Tomas Rosicky, Andrey Arshavin, Yossi Benayoun, Francis Coquelin, Marouane Chamakh
BvB Subs: Mitchell Langerak, Patrick Owomoyela, Moritz Leitner, Antonio Da Silva, Ivan Perisic, Ilkay Gundogan, Chris Lowe, Lucas Barrios

Arsenal injuries:
Jack Wilshere
Kieran Gibbs
Abou Diaby
Marouane Chamakh
Ryo Miyaichi
Bacary Sagna

BvB injuries:
Julian Koch
Neven Subotic

Key Players:
Robin Van Persie

Who else? The Flying Dutchman's feats need not be listed in this post as they've been printed on every headline, typed on every football site and shouted from every hobo's mouth. But I'll put them anyway:
EPL Stats
Apps: 12
Goals: 13
Assists:3
CL Stats
Apps: 4
Goals: 2

Robert Lewandowski

Surprisingly, not all the hype pertaining to Borussia Dortmund goes to Mario Gotze. Robert Lewandowski has been in a great run of form in the Bundesliga due, in part, to the absence of his Paraguayan teammate Lucas Barrios.
Bundesliga
Apps: 13
Goals: 8
Assists: 4
CL Stats
Apps: 4
Goals: 1


Group F

Clubs	Played	Win	Draw	Loss	--F--	--A--	+/-	Pts
1 Arsenal	4	2	2	0	4	2	2	8
2 Olympique de Marseille	4	2	1	1	4	1	3	7
3 Borussia Dortmund	4	1	1	2	3	7	-4	4
4 Olympiacos	4	1	0	3	4	5	-1	3

This is a must win match, given Dortmund's improvement and our great form, it's anyones game and should be great to watch.


Average Betting Odds
Arsenal win: 2 to 1
Draw: 3.4 to 1
Borussia Dortmund win: 3.6 to 1


I had to draw from the vets, Samuel and Sri for this preview, hope you enjoyed reading it!

Fraking excellent review mate, you should do more!

Great preview.

A must win game at home, we are facing a good team and no mistake like the weekend. Mert needs to be stronger and more aware of the strikers.

As long as we have RVP anything could happen and Walcott is on fire he needs to keep it up.

Raptorgunner wrote:Great preview.

A must win game at home, we are facing a good team and no mistake like the weekend. Mert needs to be stronger and more aware of the strikers.

As long as we have RVP anything could happen and Walcott is on fire he needs to keep it up.

this is MJ

ali8775 wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:Great preview.

A must win game at home, we are facing a good team and no mistake like the weekend. Mert needs to be stronger and more aware of the strikers.

As long as we have RVP anything could happen and Walcott is on fire he needs to keep it up.

this is MJ

I was reading at the end I notice his Sig lol. Well done preview.

Thanks guys :]


I'm hoping Mertesacker will make use of his German experience and break out of his shell and be fierce like Verminator but that's obviously not something you can just do lol.

Yeah, very impressed with Walcott, perfect timing for him to catch fire as we were all just questioning extending his contract.

MJGunner wrote:Thanks guys :]


I'm hoping Mertesacker will make use of his German experience and break out of his shell and be fierce like Verminator but that's obviously not something you can just do lol.

Yeah, very impressed with Walcott, perfect timing for him to catch fire as we were all just questioning extending his contract.

Walcott will sign with Arsenal for sure, I just don't see him leaving us. English players usually are loyal players to their clubs.

Mertesacker is so weak he goes down too easy, he must get stronger and more physical in the air, Vermaelen was clearing everything.

Raptorgunner wrote:

MJGunner wrote:Thanks guys :]


I'm hoping Mertesacker will make use of his German experience and break out of his shell and be fierce like Verminator but that's obviously not something you can just do lol.

Yeah, very impressed with Walcott, perfect timing for him to catch fire as we were all just questioning extending his contract.

Walcott will sign with Arsenal for sure, I just don't see him leaving us. English players usually are loyal players to their clubs.

Yeah I agree, I meant, we were all discussing whethere he should be offered a new contract or whether it would be better to sell him. Admittedly, I was one of the doubters, his slow performances early on were killing me :/

I am hoping VIlla can beat Spurs today, double good news if we win tomorrow .

I WISH i could understand German
nice preview btw

sina90 wrote:I WISH i could understand German
nice preview btw

Me too :/
Wait...why? lol

thanks ^^

MJGunner wrote:

sina90 wrote:I WISH i could understand German
nice preview btw

Me too :/
Wait...why? lol

thanks ^^

THIS ARTICLE
Google translate epic fail

This game will certainly be a very interesting one.

Us not beating Marseille last time may just be a blessing in disguise. Dortmund need to win both of their remaining games to qualify, while we need to win one more game to go through. Both teams will be well motivated to win the match. Had we already qualified, we might not have been us up for it.

Since Dortmund need to win, they'll come and attack us. I can see this game being similar to the Marseille game, where both sides will just counter the other. Hopefully we won't be as wasteful as were then.

but when you remember that match in germany and verminator tendency to move verticaly and intercept the ball higher up the pitch and per's lack of pace im worried same would happen again and we see some one on one situations again
id go with johan-kos-verm-santos back four
as we already discussed we all agreed this partnership is better suited to european games
--------------
as with their aggresive pressing we should put per up top and hoof it for him JK

Well, of course I'm hoping for a favourable result for Dortmund, but first and foremost I'm looking forward to a fair and exciting match with no injuries. May the better team win on Wednesday!

Very even game, can go either way

I dont want to be cocky or anything but we have one of the best players on the planet leading the Gunners . I feel really good we can get a good result.

dortmund didnt look special against bayern until they scored. then they got confidence and were just raping them. this game is going to be difficult for us. kagawa will play this time, and lewandoski is on pretty good form as well.


we better be ready to play from the get-go.

Good work MJ.

I think Gotze will play from the right though, this is where he has played this season. Kagawa behind striker and Grosskreutz on the left wing.

Hopefully Wenger gives some positive team news at his press-conference today.

Samuelj29060 wrote:Good work MJ.

I think Gotze will play from the right though, this is where he has played this season. Kagawa behind striker and Grosskreutz on the left wing.

Hopefully Wenger gives some positive team news at his press-conference today.

Thanks Sam, yeah I wasnt completely sure Of that but sounds about right, I know gotze prefers to Play as a winger more or less

Excellent preivew man!


We have to win this match for obvious reasons. I am pretty sure we cant finish 3rd anymore. It's either 1st or 2nd

But 1st is what we need otherwise expect another Arsenal v Barcelona R16 match lol

I think we will go with the same team as the weekend But i think Arshavin might start ahead of Gervinho. I won't mind that ofcoarse.

Koscielny worked at RB so i guess he will keep his place. Otherwise I can see wenger playing Djourou at RB and Kos n Vermaelen at CB

the match will be very attacking.

might see a 4-2 result

Great preview MJ!

Here is the team news btw:

Arsène Wenger revealed the latest team news ahead of the Borussia Dortmund game:

on one new injury...
From Saturday everybody is available. We lost Tomas Rosicky in training, he has been replaced by Abou Diaby. Rosicky has a small thigh strain.

on Diaby’s return...
I am very happy. It's been a little bit quicker than expected because he looked good in training, so it's good to have him back. He has not played one minute since the start of the season and had his surgery in June, so it's good news to have him back.

on Van Persie...
Robin started on the bench last time [in the Champions League] because we had some medical concerns. Tomorrow we have no medical concerns at all, that means he will start.

Abou Zidane is back!

YESSS QUADRUPLE IS ON!

RealGunner wrote:YESSS QUADRUPLE IS ON!

LOL, I hope he wins us the game. We will see the return of the invisible Diaby, and we will see some of the greatest moves by a footballer.

Awwwww yeahh