Arsenal vs Bayern Munich. Prediction and Preview. Probable Lineups, Team News, Stats, and more

Arsenal FC will host FC Bayern Munich in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final match at the Emirates Stadium. The fixture will take place on Wednesday, April 10, beginning at 00:30 IST.

Parimatch News will tell you everything you need to know ahead of the upcoming match.

Arsenal News & Current Form: 

After a superb performance in the group stage, Arsenal returned to the Champions League playoffs. In the 1/16 round, the task was much more difficult than initially expected – against a tough FC Porto. The first match at Estadio Do Dragao saw a sensation when Galeno scored his side’s winning goal with a spectacular shot in the last minute of the match, giving the Dragons a slight advantage ahead of the return leg.

In the second leg at the Emirates Stadium, the match ended 1:0 in favour of the hosts, with Trossard scoring the crucial goal. Extra time saw no further goals, leading to a penalty shootout where Arsenal emerged victorious. This victory propelled Londoners into the quarterfinals of the global tournament for the first time in 14 years. As a result, the Reds will now face Bayern, who have regularly upset the Gunners in the continental championship in the past.

As for the English Premier League, Mikel Arteta’s men are in the race for the title and currently lead the EPL table, edging past the Merseysideiders on goal difference (51 compared to 42). The team boasts the most dependable defence in the league, conceding only 24 goals, and they’ve also scored the highest number of goals in the championship, tallying 75 times.

In addition, the hosts made it eight consecutive victories before the international break, after which they drew with Manchester City FC at the Etihad. However, immediately after this misfire, the Londoners defeated Luton Town FC (2:0) and then Brighton & Hove Albion FC last week (0:3) thanks to goals from Saka, Havertz and Trossard. At home, the hosts are also very convincing: they have celebrated six victories in a row in all competitions, conceding only three goals.

The team has gained confidence and character, they are no longer afraid of meeting with strong opponents and making simple mistakes. Correctly following the instructions of Mikel Arteta, the Londoners also confidently beat Liverpool FC (3:1), West Ham United FC (6:0) and Newcastle United FC (4:1).

The wards of the Spanish specialist approached the upcoming match in a much better condition than their upcoming opponent: in the last 13 matches in all tournaments, they have achieved 11 victories, conceding a measly five goals. 

Ben White is an unbreakable pillar of the Gunners’ success this season

The Gunners are scoring a lot – during this stretch, they averaged exactly three goals per 90 minutes, but it could have been even more: only in the meeting with the Seagulls, they missed four 100% chances. 

The performance shows the excellent tone of the whole team, but the attacking line is worth mentioning separately: Arsenal’s leading midfielders and forwards are performing above and beyond expectations.

Kai Havertz, Leandro Trossard, Martin Odegaard, Declan Rice and Gabriel Martinelli overlook the opponents’ defence. The players fulfil different functionalities and have individual strengths, but at the same time complement each other very well. Bukayo Saka is having an outstanding campaign – the 22-year-old Englishman has already scored 30 (17+13) in all competitions.

Up ahead, Arsenal will face such tough opponents as Aston Villa FC, Tottenham Hotspur FC, Chelsea FC and Manchester United FC. Therefore, it is important for the head coach to rotate the squad and not to forget about the Champions League.

The Gunners are preparing for the match in an almost optimal lineup, if not to take into account the absent Jurrien Timber (serious injury at the start of the season). Winger Martinelli (6 goals) is back in the lineup after a minor injury and can expect to be in the starting lineup. David Raya is anchoring the team’s goal, and the pair of central defenders William Saliba – Gabriel Magalhaes is helping him as well.

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Bayern Munich News & Current Form: 

As they do every year, Bayern dominated the UCL group with 5 wins and a draw. However, in the first half of the final, the Bavarians faced stiff resistance from SS Lazio, who won the first leg in Rome (1:0) thanks to a Ciro Immobile goal from the penalty spot, but lost 3:0 at the Allianz Arena thanks to goals from Harry Kane and Thomas Muller. 

After the international break, the Star of the South lost two Bundesliga matches, first at home to Borussia Dortmund (2:0) and then away to FC Heidenheim (3:2). In the last game, everything started well: Kane opened the scoring with a pass from Serge Gnabry, breaking the 60-year-old record of the legendary Uwe Seeler by scoring his 32nd goal in the Bundesliga. It is the first time in the history of the tournament that a player has scored so many goals in his debut season.

Gnabry doubled Bayern’s lead at the end of the first half, but their fans’ joy was short-lived. In the second half, the team conceded three goals and lost the game. The gap to the leading Bayer 04 Leverkusen increased to 16 points, the wards of Xabi Alonso enough to beat SV Werder Bremen in the next game to become the champion of Germany.

No matter how hard the players and coaching staff try, Bayern are losing and generally seem to be performing poorly. They often demonstrate a sloppy game, make a lot of mistakes, especially defensive errors, miss a lot and lose. The recent results of the guests outside the home walls are shocking: only one win in the previous six away games in all tournaments.

In addition, the wards of Thomas Tuchel prematurely dropped out of the DFB-Pokal and for the first time in 11 years will not win the Bundesliga, so the only remaining goal of the team this season – a triumph in the Champions League.

Serge Gnabry and Mikel Arteta played for Arsenal together back in 2014

The only bright spot in Bayern’s crisis is Kane, within the UCL and Bundesliga he is the sum of opponents: he scored 14 goals in 19 confrontations against the Gunners, and only to Everton FC and Leicester City FC he netted more.

The two teams met in the 1/8 finals in 2013, 2014 and 2017, in 2015 they crossed paths at the group stage. The team from the southeast of Germany has turned into a nightmare for Londoners: the last three meetings between the clubs in the tournament ended in humiliation for the English (1:5 defeats), and three of the last five Gunners’ runs in the Champions League ended after fights with Munich.

Bayern have plenty of squad problems: the injury list starts with Moroccan Noussair Mazraoui, his rival for the right-back position Sacha Boey, as well as Raphaël Guerreiro, Manuel Neuer and centre-back Bouna Sarr. Aleksandar Pavlovic was unavailable in the last rounds and also has a good chance of missing the duel with Londoners, while French winger Kingsley Coman and Leroy Sane (9 goals, 13 assists) have had time to recover from injuries. 

Joshua Kimmich and his midfield partner Leon Goretzka will surely appear in the starting lineup. Thomas Muller (4 goals, 8 assists) and Jamal Musiala (12 goals, 7 assists) will be responsible for creativity in attack, while in the centre of the attack will take its place the Bundesliga’s top scorer Harry Kane (37 goals, 10 assists). 

Serge Gnabry, formerly of Arsenal FC and currently playing for Bayern Munich, reflects on his time playing alongside now-coach Mikel Arteta in 2014:

“I’m extremely happy to be going to Emirates again after almost eight years. Playing for a club like Arsenal was a great privilege at the time. Of course, there were ups and downs, but I enjoyed my time there and got to know a lot of fantastic people. In the end, it was the right decision.”

“Arteta is now fully absorbed in his role as coach and thinks very strategically. In my time, he was already an experienced player. He was the captain, a leader who spoke to everyone and communicated a lot. He was very helpful to us as young players back then. He built us up, always gave us good tips, always tried to guide us so that we stayed focused and gave everything.”

“Arsenal have been on a very good run since Christmas. In any case, you can’t really say anything bad about a team that’s competing for the Premier League title. They’re strong, good finishers and are keen on having possession. They’re formidable in their own stadium with their fans behind them. It will be a difficult task, with two strong teams coming up against each other.”

“It’s a do-or-die game – that’s where we’re usually particularly strong. Reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League would give us a huge boost. It’s our big goal.”

Arsenal form guide: W-W-W-D-W-W

Bayern Munich form guide: D-W-W-W-L-L

Arsenal vs Bayern Munich Head-To-Head Record:

• November 4, 2015: Bayern Munich 5 – 1 Arsenal (UEFA Champions League);
• February 15, 2017: Bayern Munich 5 – 1 Arsenal (UEFA Champions League);
• March 7, 2017: Arsenal 5 – 1 Bayern Munich (UEFA Champions League).

Arsenal vs Bayern Munich Predicted XI:

Arsenal’s possible starting lineup (4-3-3): Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.

Bayern Munich’s possible starting lineup (4-2-3-1): Ulreich; Kimmich, Upamecano, Kim, Davies; Goretzka, Laimer; Muller, Musiala, Gnabry; Kane.

Statistical preview of the match Arsenal vs Bayern Munich:

• Arsenal’s First XI average age is 26.2 years, and Bayern’s First XI average age is 28.6 years.
• The total value of Arsenal’s squad is 1.12 bln euros, while the total of the German side comes up to 929 mln euros.
• Glenn Nyberg has been appointed as the centre referee. The referee has already served 11 games this season, showing an average of 2.5 yellow cards and also whistles 22 fouls per game. 
• In the Champions League group stage, Arsenal typically averages less than 6 corner kicks, but against Porto they had 10 and 8 corners. Meanwhile, Bayern Munich averages 5.63 corners per game and had less than 4 corners just once against Manchester United away.
• In 75% of Arsenal’s Champions League matches this season, yellow cards totalled ≤4. Similarly, in 7 out of 8 Bayern games, the total yellow cards didn’t exceed 4.
• At home Arsenal in the UCL won in all 4 matches in terms of xG. Bayern have away defeats in 75% of the tournament encounters.  

What has been said before the match:

Mikel Arteta, the manager of Arsenal, expresses optimism and determination as his team faces a formidable challenge in the Champions League:

“We’re really enjoying the moment, this is where we want to be. We’re in a really good position in the Premier League and we’re in a really good position in the Champions League. We have a big task ahead of us against one of the most successful teams in Europe and that’s the hurdle we have to overcome, and we are looking forward to it.”

“Bayern are a tough team. I’m a big fan, a big admirer of Thomas Tuchel, his teams, the way they settle and play, the way they transmit. I learned a lot about him by looking at Bayern and when you are analysing this league, you see why they are a top team. We have prepared very well, and we have to take our game where we want it, and if we do that, we have a chance to win.”

“Hopefully we are better than last season, we have learnt a lot of stuff over the last few months. I think players have evolved; we all have tried to improve, to be better than we were a year ago. It’s been a really demanding season, it’s been a huge step for us to be in this competition and on top of that, be competing in the Premier League the way we are doing. This is the challenge, but as well we are so excited to be part of that.”

The manager of Bayern Munich Thomas Tuchel acknowledges Arsenal’s dominance in the Premier League and the formidable challenge they pose:

“Arsenal are currently the best team in the Premier League and that is deserved, all the data shows that. They are in great form and have been at the highest level for the last two seasons so it’s a massive test for us.”

“It’s the second year for them where they’re playing at this really high level, they have so much energy on the pitch and they can keep it for a long time.”

“We know about our own strengths and how we want to cause them pain. We know the Champions League is a competition where we have more experience over the last few years. We want to use it to our advantage.”

“There’s been a complete change in culture since Arteta joined, it is clear what way the club wanted to go with him and the club are harvesting that. It was a difficult start, but the team stood by him and they overcame the difficult phase.”

“Tactically they are at a very high level, they are very stable against the ball. You have to give them a big compliment. We will try to be strong nonetheless. The style in the Champions League is different to that in the Premier League.”

Arsenal vs Bayern Munich Prediction:

Arsenal have hit fantastic form in 2024 and are cruising mistake-free on their way to the coveted EPL trophy, also racking up a 6-match winning streak at the Emirates Stadium. Here and now, Mikel Arteta’s men should exploit the current personnel and playing difficulties of the once formidable Munich side to break the rather bleak series of personal confrontations. The Londoners will also benefit from the fact that the visitors are set to play without any supporting contingent due to the Germans receiving a match attendance ban from UEFA after the game against Lazio. The Bavarians, who have lost two recent Bundesliga matches in a row, look disjointed and seem to be experiencing psychological problems, they struggle to keep the tempo for the entire 90 minutes, defensive players often commit errors, and that robotic fluid interaction a la unified mechanism of the renowned German Machine is nowhere to be seen. The Londoners, who are the best in the world’s most competitive league by a whole bunch of metrics, have no problem with any of that. A prolific attack of the Red and Whites will try to minimise the intrigue ahead of the return leg in Germany.

Parimatch News staff prediction:

We say: Arsenal will win and the match total will be less than 4.5 – Yes.

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