For routine, Arsenal and Bayern Munich face each other in the quarter-finals of the Champions League competition. For me, this draw is almost ridiculous. Will it be a big defeat again or will something change?
Arsenal continues to work hard for the championship title. The challenging trip to Brighton ended with a confident victory. Bayern Munich now focuses almost solely on European glory, as the gap between them and the first-placed Leverkusen has increased to 16 points over the weekend.
Overall, the teams have met 14 times, with Bayern winning seven, Arsenal five, and two draws.
Mikel Arteta and Thomas Tuchel are Europe's sharpest managers, and this will be a meeting of two great tactical minds.
As mentioned above, Bayern is far behind Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, so Tuchel may favor this competition in the last Munich season. (Very important!) On the other hand, the Gunners are in a tight race for the championship with a not very strong squad!
Arsenal's last five matches have been excellent. Five games, four wins, and one draw, including four Premier League matches with a 0-0 draw against City and one Champions League encounter, the turnaround against Porto that got them into the top 8.
There is one injured player in the squad, but it's quite serious. English winger Bukayo Saka, who currently leads the team in goals and assists, has been suffering from an unknown injury for about a week, which is a big concern for head coach Mikel Arteta as the team still has to fight hard for the championship and Champions League progression in the coming weeks.
Bayern's last five matches have been very good. Five games, three wins, one draw, and one loss, including four league matches, including a 2-0 loss to Dortmund, and a Champions League round where they also had to turn the game around against Lazio at home with a 3-0 win.
There are also a few injured players in their squad, but most of them are negligible absences, like U19 call-up Tarek Buchmann or midfielder Sacha Boey from Galatasaray.
They are unlikely to make their debut in a starting line-up in a Champions League quarterfinal, but the player who could be sorely missed for head coach Thomas Tuchel is Neuer, the goalkeeper who recovered from his previous injury to play in the round of 16, but has suffered a new ligament tear again, so they once again have to leave out the experienced German from the starting line-up.
Both sides can be sure of progressing, if they are both in their best form, but it will be a close encounter that will require disciplined play.
At home, Arsenal has won all five of their previous matches.
Bayern hasn't been too good away recently, losing three of their last five away matches.
Overall, Arsenal may have a slight goal difference advantage in the first match.