Arsenal will bid to continue their imperious form when they seek revenge on Bayern Munich in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal, reports talksport.com.
The Gunners have been unstoppable in 2024 but their old Bundesliga foes represent the first major test of their European credentials.
Arsenal ran out 3-0 winners away at Brighton last time out to remain unbeaten in the Premier League this calendar year. During that run, Mikel Arteta’s men knocked out Porto to snap their streak of seven successive last-16 exits in the Champions League.
German giants Bayern were responsible for several of those humiliating defeats, including a 10-2 thrashing in 2016/17.
However, the six-time Champions League winners are not the fearsome prospect they once were despite Harry Kane’s arrival.
Bayern will be relying on Kane to deliver the goods against Arsenal – and his goal record suggests they’d be right to. Former Tottenham striker Kane will make his return to north London less than a season after leaving to battle his old rivals.
His career has always been intrinsically linked to the Gunners, having been released from the club’s academy as a youngster.
From there, he went on to sign for Tottenham and become Spurs’ all-time top scorer – also overtaking Thierry Henry for the most strikes in the north London derby.
Kane has scored 14 goals in 19 appearances against Arsenal, only netting more against Leicester (20) and Everton (16) in his professional career.
The England captain has also scored the joint-most goals by a visiting player at the Emirates Stadium (5), along with Diogo Jota and Jamie Vardy.
Among players remaining in this season’s competition, Kai Havertz has applied the most high intensity pressures in the UEFA Champions League this term (374). Indeed, he made the most of any player in the game in Arsenal’s second leg triumph over FC Porto in the round of 16 (70).
Bukayo Saka has been directly involved in seven goals in seven appearances in the UEFA Champions League this season (three goals, four assists), the most of any Arsenal player. The last player to register more combined goals and assists in a single campaign for the club was Alexis Sánchez in 2015-16 (eight – three goals, five assists).
The hosts have only one major injury absentee, with Jurrien Timber still recovering from the ACL he sustained at the start of the season.
Bayern can recall Dayot Upamecano from suspension, but are swamped with a packed treatment room.
Manuel Neuer, Kingsley Coman, and Leroy Sane are all doubts, but Noussair Mazraoui and Aleksandar Pavlovic should both be back from illness.
Gabriel Marusic, Tarek Buchman, Bouna Sarr, Sacha Boey, and Noel Aseko are all confirmed absentees.
Speaking after the win over Brighton, Arteta addressed whether he has seen a difference in the club’s mentality compared to last year.
He replied: “I don’t know – I think we are in a really good moment, we have the squad healthy with a really good energy, with a lot of confidence, individually and collectively, because they perform really well, and we are winning a lot of matches.
“We just have to carry on doing what we’re doing.”
On what has clicked, Arteta added: “In the end, it’s about performances. You have to earn the right to win the games in this league and the teams, they ask you a lot of questions and there are a lot of things you have to control in a Premier League match to win away from home.
“The team seems to be controlling those moments much better and being comfortable in different stages of games, when the teams are demanding all this stuff. That’s the biggest step as a team.”
