Despite Arsenal’s 2-0 Champions League win over Bayern Munich on Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium, Arsene Wenger’s team still faces a tough huddle to qualify to the knock-out stage. Goalkeeper Petr Cech was the Gunners’ hero of the night as he made fantastic saves throughout the game. He is a top class goal-keeper and will bring a deserved difference if Arsenal is to qualify for the knockout phase. If they qualify, Arsenal’s knock-out opponents might be the Greek side, Olympiakos. After Arsenal’s home loss to Greek champions’ olympiakos, there was assign of disbelief at the Emirates. On the post-game reaction, many soccer pundits in London including Arsenal defender Per Mertasacker echoed the gunner’s possibility to resurrect their champions league hopes against Bayern Munich when they face each other in the two-legged matches. Metersacker revelations have worked well in the first leg but given the strength of their next away opponents, the gunner’s will hardly pick a point at Bayern and this will put them at risk again of possible early exit. Arsenal and Bayern have met several times with Bayern averagely ahead on all encounters. They all perform well on away grounds but the current Bayern Munich team is yawning for champions’ league silverware and I think misfiring arsenal has no chance against them. Loss against Olympiakos was Arsenal’s second champions’ league loss after their shock defeat to Dynamo Zagreb during their opening champions’ league game. Arsenal is one of the most proficient football clubs in the world. I like watching Arsenal due to their good passing skills and displays. They exhibit good football movements, possibly good to watch from the stands but the kind of football that does not produce goals to finish-off the opponent. Looking at how the gunners started their 2015/2016 season or even during their community shield football match against Chelsea, you could probably fancy them to become hot favourites for this season champions’ league trophy. But the gunners have suffered a slump in performance both domestically and in the champions’ league. Many soccer fans are currently over-shadowed by the recent 3-0 win over Manchester united but such losses are usual in the game. The red devils were caught unaware on three occasions and punished with three brilliant goals. There were so many tactical errors from Louis Van Gaal’s team. Three quick goals traumatized Manchester united forward movements and throughout the game, feared to concede the fourth whenever they could risk moving forward to snatch a score. But when united covered their gaps and corrected mistakes, they became competitive until the final whistle. A conclusive study of this match is that united lost the game because their tactical plan was not effective from the start and not because Arsenal is a stronger team. You do not expect every opponent to make the same mistakes. Again, the gunners are currently deploying Theo Walcott as false number.9. It’s hard to believe that this gamble will be effective in other big games. I’m sure Bayern will tactically try to intercept Mesut Ozil passes whereas Alexis Sanchez will be tight marked to deny Arsenal chances of penetration. Wenger’s false number nine gamble rotates on the effectiveness of stars Ozil and Sanchez. Both have quick and penetrative passes that gives Walcott chance for quick runs. The likes of Aaron Ramsey, Santi Cazorla, and Francis Conquelin have no playing space against Bayern midfielders who possess very good reaction speed especially when they lose the ball. Bayern Munich does possess one of the best technical arrangements in the world based on their summer transfers, team organization and success. They cannot underrate an opponent of Arsenal caliber and I’m sure against Bayern, the gunners will be checked from the start. With Bayern still mourning for last year’s loss against Barcelona in the semi-finals; the philosophy is to beat every opponent who comes along their way. They have walloped arsenal conquerors Dinamo Zagreb, Olympiakos by 3-0 and 5-1 respectively. This manifests their anger to win champions league this season. With all Bayern Munich stars back from injury, we expect arsenal to face the hardest test in the second leg. Both Arjen Robben and Frank Ribery have been training and have recovered from their respective injuries. They have been declared fit enough to play and arsenal comes just at the right time for them. Coach Pep Guardiola might choose to play Robben on one side of the wings and perhaps Ribery will have to wait from the bench. Bayern wingers and attackers will be a huge threat given the current vibrant form of Robert Lewandowski, Thomas Muller and Douglas Costa.
