Cast your mind back to the 16th of September.
Arsenal kicked off their Champions League campaign with a 2-0 defeat to Borussia Dortmund in Germany, with playmaker Mesut Ozil coming in for great deals of criticism after a poor performance, and 19-year-old Hector Bellerin deputising at right-back. The 2013/14 Bundesliga runners-up were in fine form, with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Ciro Immobile looking unstoppable at times, and seemed set to give domestic champions Bayern Munich a run for their money in the league.
Fast forward to late November, and things could not be more different for BVB.
With Marco Reus having been ruled out until January after suffering an ankle injury in his side’s game against Paderborn, and centre-half Mats Hummels unsettled as a result of media speculation linking him with the Gunners and Manchester United, Dortmund lie in 16th place in the 18-team Bundesliga, and manager Jurgen Klopp has recognised that his side are in a crisis.
His team have looked a shadow of the side that ripped through Arsenal’s shaky defence in September, but Klopp has recently called for a change in attitude, saying “we have several problems, with which we will deal differently, but believe me on one thing: we will come good.” The 47-year-old has also been linked with a move away from the Signal Iduna Park recently, with Liverpool and Arsenal both rumoured to be potential destinations.
Results have been improving for Dortmund in recent weeks, with a narrow defeat at Bayern Munich being followed by a crushing 4-1 win at home to Galatasaray in the Champions League and a 1-0 victory over Borussia Monchengladbach, but a 2-2 draw with fellow strugglers Paderborn on Saturday showing that there is still a great deal of work to be done.
Their side in that game, in which they had taken a 2-0 lead into half-time before throwing it away, is expected to be similar to the one that will face the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, but without the inspirational Reus. If this does turn out to be the case, then it looks as though Dortmund will play largely through the middle against Arsenal, with an attacking quartet of Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Immobile and Aubameyang not offering much natural width.
As can be seen from Mkhitaryan’s chalkboard from the September fixture, which shows successful passes in green and key passes in yellow, the Armenian does tend to drift out wide, but this should not be a source of fear for Arsenal, as Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Alexis Sanchez both work hard defensively, and should have learnt to counter this threat.
This could end up playing into Arsenal’s favour; in defence, their strongest position at the moment is left-back, with Kieran Gibbs on a decent run of form, and Dortmund look likely to play Aubameyang, their quickest attacker, on the right flank. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta should be able to cope with the threat of Kagawa and Mkhitaryan, given aid by Jack Wilshere, if fit, or else Aaron Ramsey, leaving Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal to mark Immobile out of the game.
These all promise to be fascinating match-ups on Wednesday night, but, on the face of it, Arsenal may end up coming out on top.
Meanwhile, despite a disappointing result against Manchester United on Saturday, there are more reasons for Arsenal to be positive. In that game, the Gunners dominated the first-half of the match, and captain Mikel Arteta told Arsenal.com that he was astounded that his side did not win the game. “I am shocked we did not win this game, I cannot believe it still,” he said.
“I think we played our best game of the season, in terms of what we demand from ourselves with the quality of our attack, how early we won the ball back, how consistent we were throughout the game, the number of chances we created, and all that considering the opposition we were playing against. I can’t believe it and think it is a shame, not fair for the players and the fans. It is very frustrating.”
Danny Welbeck and Jack Wilshere both missed guilt-edged chances against the Red Devils, but will be looking for improvement this time. As has been widely reported on social media, Olivier Giroud will not feature on Wednesday, due to his non-registration in the group stage squad list: it is understood that the club’s medical staff thought there was no chance he would be fit to appear in a group game.
After a string of below-par performances, Aaron Ramsey may be dropped from Arsenal’s side in favour of Tomas Rosicky, who has recently spoken out about his lack of playing time, or indeed play alongside him. The Czech midfielder told ArseBlog “I understand that I am 34-years-old and that it probably plays a role whether I like it or not. That’s without a doubt. However, I’m not in physical decline. When I played for the national team against Holland I ran 12km and according to the tests at Arsenal I’m in the top five in terms of speed. We [Arsene Wenger and me] are on good terms, so I do not really know what it is. It is purely a coach’s decision. It’s not my decline. My health is fine too. Of course I want to play, but there’s not much I can do about it.”
Whoever does get the nod to start will undoubtedly want to take advantage of Dortmund’s leaky defence; the Germans have conceded 19 goals in 12 league fixtures in 2014/15, and are without the injured Mats Hummels for their trip to London.
Possible XIs:
Arsenal (4-1-4-1): Szczesny; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Arteta; Chamberlain, Ramsey, Rosicky, Sanchez; Welbeck.
Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Subotic, Ginter, Durm; Gundogan, Kehl; Aubameyang, Mkhitaryan, Kagawa; Immobile.
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