On Wednesday, 17 April, as part of the second leg in the Champions League quarterfinals, Bayern Munich will host Arsenal. Over the past weekend, "the Gunners" unexpectedly fell to Aston Villa 0:2 at home base, leaving their top championship spot. The hosts, on the other hand, officially lost their Bundesliga title.
Bayern Munich: Neuer; Kimmich, Dier, De Ligt, Guerreiro; Laimer, Goretzka; Müller, Musiala, Sané; Kane.
Arsenal: Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tomiyasu; Edegard, Jorginho, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
Last week, Bayern once again demonstrated their status as one of Europe's top teams, securing an almost flawless 2:2 draw at the Emirates. Despite challenges in their current campaign, the Germans claimed the top spot in the Champions League autumn quartet, ahead of Copenhagen, Galatasaray, and Manchester United. However, the ⅛ finals gave them a tough time. After losing 1:0 in the first match against Lazio, Thomas Tuchel's team bounced back, dominating at home with a 3:0 victory. This last weekend, The Bavarians officially lost their German championship crown after nearly 12 years of Bundesliga domination. Ten days ago, they fell to Heidenheim 3:2, and over this weekend, managed to score a home win against Köln 2:0, but failed to stop Bayer Leverkusen from claiming the title on Sunday. Right-back Bouna Sarr, hardly-used Buhmann and centre-back Bui will again miss Wednesday's match due to injuries. Alphonso Davies, who received another yellow card at Emirates, will be serving a suspension; and Serge Gnabry, one of the scorers at the Emirates, is out for the season with an injury. Kingsley Coman, another French player, suffered an injury this weekend, and his participation in the upcoming Euro is in doubt. Nonetheless, Thomas Tuchel will still have a wealth of attacking options: Thomas Müller (4 goals, 8 assists), Leroy Sané (9 goals, 12 assists), and Musiala (12 goals, 7 assists), and all three were kept on the bench along with Manuel Neuer. Harry Kane (37 goals, 10 assists) is expected to be at the forefront of the attack, with Dier and De Ligt cementing the centre defence.
Returning to the Champions League playoffs after several years, Arsenal has made it to the tournament quarterfinals. The Gunners had a less inspiring performance last week, playing 2:2 draw against Bayern Munich at home. Nevertheless, they landed first place in their group, surpassing PSV Eindhoven, Lens, and Sevilla; and in the ⅛ finals, outperformed Porto in penalty shootouts. In the Premier League, the Londoners are vying for their first English championship title in 20 years. However, despite their recent victories over Luton (2:0) and Brighton (0:3), Mikel Arteta's proteges failed to claim their third consecutive win last weekend, losing (0:2) at home to Aston Villa, and relinquishing their top position in the leaderboard, now trailing two points behind Man City. It's worth noting, though, that the Gunners have only secured two wins in their recent four away matches across all competitions. Dutch defender Timber continues to recover from his season-opening serious injury. Conversely, Arteta could be without his captain, Martin Edegard (9 goals, 7 assists in all competitions), who sustained an injury over the weekend. Kai Havertz (9 goals, 4 assists in all competitions) may drop back to midfield, partnering Declan Rice (6 goals, 5 assists) and Jorginho, while Gabriel Jesus (8 goals, 5 assists in all competitions) should take the forward spot with Martinelli (8 goals, 5 assists) and Bukayo Saka (17 goals, 12 assists in all competitions), who scored a goal last week. Belgian winger Trossard (11 goals, 2 assists) is expected to remain on the bench and Spanish goalkeeper Raya to take the net. The defensive line will be locked down by Saliba - Gabriel.
Since 2000 these teams have faced each other 15 times, with Bayern Munich leading - 7 victories compared to Arsenal's 4, and 4 matches ended in a draw.
Despite their struggles in the championship, Bayern showed a decent performance in the first leg. Against a less seasoned Arsenal, potentially struggling away from home at this stage of the Champions League, the Bavarians have a fair chance to prevail thanks to their immense experience. My prediction is a win for the home side with a handicap of 0.
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