Borussia Dortmund Vs Arsenal

Dortmund Vs Arsenal
Tuesday 16th September: 19:45 BST
Signal Iduna Park


Arsenal travel to Dortmund to kickstart their champions league campaign against the formidable Dortmund. Dortmund, just like Arsenal are going through an injury crisis however neither sides will be anywhere at a point where they will play scrubs and hence it should still be a good match which Dortmund will be looking to win with being at home and also to take revenge for last year when Arsenal won over there. For any team, home matches are important to win because winning all 3 home games result in your team going through 75%. Arsenal will also be looking to do that but we still need to get away points and to do that against Dortmund would be amazing. We did it last year and Dortmund are better than they were last year so it will be more difficult but if we could attack like we did against City, then I don't see why we can't win over there. However we do need to avoid the defensive errors we have been making lately to have any chance of doing that.

Dortmund as mentioned are going through a tough period with injuries. Reus, Hummels, Kuba and Sahin are all out. They have some excellent backups in Auba and Sokratis so they might not be as depleted as we would have hoped for but that doesn't really matter. We are going there to win and hopefully we can capitalise on their defensive rearangments, despite being hit with the Debuchy setback ourselves.

Team News

For Arsenal, Giroud, Debuchy, Walcott, Diaby and Monreal are all out for one reason or another. Chambers is 50-50 so Bellerin could potentially play. He is good enough so not really a problem.

For Dortmund, Reus, Hummels, Kirch, Kuba and Sahin are all out. Kagawa faces a fitness test while Immobile is uncertain but should be ok.

Potential Arsenal Team

---------------------------Szczesny-----------------------------
Chambers/Bellerin----Mertesacker----Koscielny-------Gibbs
-----------------Arteta--------Wilshere------------------------
Sanchez-----------------Ramsey--------------------Ozil
--------------------Welbeck------------------------------

Potential Dortmund Team

-------------------Weidenfeller---------------------------
Piszczek--------Subotic-------Sokratis-----------Durm
---------------Kehl------------Jojic----------------------
Kagawa---------------Mkhitariyan-------------Aubameyang
-------------------Immobile-------------------------------

Match Facts(uefa)

• Last season's loss to Arsenal was Dortmund'sfirst against English visitors in European competition. Previously they had won four of the seven contests, with three draws.
• Before Arsenal's win, BVB had been victorious in seven successive home UEFA Champions League games.
• Arsenal qualified for their 17th successive group stage campaign with a 1-0 aggregate win over Beşiktaş JK in the play-offs, Alexis Sánchez scoring the winner, his first goal for the club.
• Last season, the Gunners departed in the round of 16 for the fourth consecutive year, with FC Bayern München their conquerors for the second season running. They drew 1-1 in Munich in the second leg but lost 3-1 on aggregate.
• Summer signing Alexis Sánchez has scored in each of his last three appearances for the Gunners.
• Arsenal are 14 matches unbeaten in all competitions, seven of them this season, dating back to a 3-0 loss at Everton FC on 6 April.
• Shinji Kagawa marked his first outing since returning to Dortmund with a goal in Saturday's 3-1 victory at home to SC Freiburg.



Final Words

Let's hope we can click like we did against City in attack. And keep a clean sheet.

Had to rewrite everything after PC crashed as soon as i pressed send after the 1st beautiful attempt

RealGunner wrote:
Potential Arsenal Team

---------------------------Szczesny-----------------------------
Chambers/Bellerin----Mertesacker----Koscielny-------Gibbs
-----------------Arteta--------Wilshere------------------------
Sanchez-----------------Ramsey--------------------Ozil
--------------------Welbeck------------------------------

RG Please! We know it will be 4-1-4-1 again.

Oh I am in the away stand tomo - will try and get you lads some pics

Dortmund vs Arsenal, part 5. There shouldn't be any surprises in this match since both teams should know each other very well by this point.

The interesting, and exciting, thing is that both sides are still getting accustomed to new attackers and slight changes to their systems, so neither team are at their best going forward. Despite that, both teams are dangerous with plenty of pace and guile to around.

Our other games against them have been tight, cagey affairs that have been decided by one moment of poor concentration or great quality. Dortmund's pressing has always made it hard for us to get our passing game going, while we've usually dealt with their counters well by working hard and not committing too many men forward. This time, though, I think it could be slightly different as we've now got pacey players like Alexis and Welbeck in the side that can be great outlets for us.

Immobile carries his own threat but he's no Lewandowski, and the fact that Reus won't be playing makes me feel less nervous about the game. Kagawa and Mikhitaryan are good players, but you don't fear them as much as Reus and Lewandowski. The one that concerns me the most is Aubameyang, especially if he's playing against Chambers or Bellerin. Neither will have faced a player as quick and direct as him before.

Dortmund aren't afraid to put it into in the box, either, and that also concerns me given how we've defended against crosses and set-pieces this season so far.

This is the first and toughest game of the group, so a draw wouldn't be a bad result by any means. I feel like we can win, though.

srigooner wrote:Oh I am in the away stand tomo - will try and get you lads some pics

lucky you

Hope you get one of those megaphones so you can lead the chants

Nice job RG.

Ramsey needs to be at his best to win the game for us, I hope to see some rotations. No point starting Ozil on the wings, I would like Wenger to start in his favorite position to prove himself in the big game tomorrow.

Would give Joel or Rosicky a start here, I know they have not played much but we need them.

My line up.

---------------------------Szczesny------------------------
Flamini ---------Mertesacker----Koscielny--------------Gibbs
-----------------Arteta--------Wilshere-------------------
Joel-----------------Ramsey--------------------Santi
--------------------Welbeck------------------------------

RealGunner wrote:Had to rewrite everything after PC crashed as soon as i pressed send after the 1st beautiful attempt

Hate it when that happens

Good work, mate.

I'm gutted that Debuchy is out long-term, to be honest. We really need to keep our defenders fit, given how few we have.

Good opportunity to get another good result in Germany, given BVB injury list.

Good work RG
hope we have strong spell at the start and find the opening
take the lead and control the space and contain them
then we have weapons to counter

would be interesting to see if they use diamond or not
could make easier to cover spaces but still discipline and concentration needed as its not just set piece overall defensively a lot left to be desired so far

wouldn't actually mind if Bellerin starts
such a huge experience it would be for him

really feel we can take all 3 pts here

Arsenal with an injury crisis is such a big blow though Arsene Wenger will have to rely with his new signing like Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck. He could also use Mathieu Flamini or Hector Bellerin as an alternative man for right-back.

srigooner wrote:Oh I am in the away stand tomo - will try and get you lads some pics

Good work RG

Very lucky man, I would love to have the opportunity to watch Arsenal in that stadium, enjoy!!

Hoping for a win today but a draw would not be a bad result

Dortmund will most likely play with Ramos and not Immobile up front, he's in better form and has settled immediately with the Dortmund squad, behind him Mkhitaryan - Kagawa - Großkreutz if Kagawa is fit to play. If not Aubameyang - Mkhitaryan - Großkreutz. Midfield is trickier, we could see any combination of Kehl - Bender, Kehl - Jojic, Bender - Jojic.

As for us, same team as against City with Bellerin/Chambers at RB, Arteta for Flamini and Gibbs at LB.

Hoping for a big win, don't mind if we defend for the rest of the game as long as we win

srigooner wrote:Oh I am in the away stand tomo - will try and get you lads some pics

So jealous.

Anyone know if Diaby is in the squad for Dortmund game?
I think it will be a tough game but have a feeling Welbeck and Sanchez will be too much for Dortmund with out Hummels.

RealGunner wrote:Had to rewrite everything after PC crashed as soon as i pressed send after the 1st beautiful attempt

OMG I know dem feels

Not really nervous about the game tbf. More excited for it. I love the games against Dortmund. A win would be excellent, a draw would be fairly decent and a loss won't be the end of the world cuz we still got 5 games left. But I'd rather us start the group off good. REMEMBER: We're gunning for top spot this season!

Come on Arsenal and Ozil!

Emi Martinez says on Twitter that Bellerin starts tonight.

One hell of a game to make your debut in.

Imagine dat cross to Welbz

Szczesny"We do realise that set pieces have been a weakness for us recently," he said. "We've conceded [a couple] of goals already and it's very early in the season.

"We did very well last season on set pieces and we're a bit disappointed. We've been working on it in training so hopefully we'll put that right on Tuesday."

Mertesacker
"When you play zonal, you need to attack the ball and try to get the best players out and mark tightly when they are in front of you," Mertesacker told Arsenal Player. "We lacked a bit of that intensity but we suffered a bit,

Watch the first set piece of the game we will concede.