There’s good news ahead of tomorrow night’s Champions League tie with Bayern Munich, as Gabriel returns having missed the 3-0 win over Watford on Saturday.
The Brazilian will come back into a squad which has thankfully not suffered any injuries from the game at Vicarage Road. Whether he starts remains to be seen as Arsene Wenger figures out best how to stop the red-hot Robert Lewandowski and a Bayern side that have won their last 12 games.
Speaking after the Watford win, Wenger spoke about making ‘one or two’ changes, perhaps keeping Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez in reserve for the weekend, but it seems a tall order to beat Pep Guardiola’s side without them.
The one absence from the last Champions League game is David Ospina who has come back from international duty with a shoulder problem. How long he’s out for isn’t known just yet, but it means Petr Cech will play his first European game for the club since his £10m arrival in the summer.
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Glad he is back, he will be needed for a tough stretch of games.
Deep down Arsene knows that the Champs League is already over this year and doesn’t want to go to into the Europa.
Give Ox and Campbell a run out tomorrow and put everything into a challenge for the league this year.
Ox and Joel? Not a wise move. Even if he has given up on the CL, setting up the team for an embarrasing defeat is not the way to go.
Play our full-strength squad; the season is still young so we are not talking fatigue yet.
No point in playing and potentially breaking either Sanchez or Ozil in a competition we have zero chance of winning. Sanchez in particular needs a rest.
We should be two wins from two in the champs league but we are not & have massively cocked it up this year & its over.
Ox, Campbell, Gibbs are no mugs, give them game time. I would rather three points against Everton on Saturday than tomorrow. Just being realistic, an even earlier exit from champs league and a non title challenge would be unforgivable.
No start for the Ox, an OG and we’re done for good; lol.
girut is a super sub right now, like sixth man in basketball.
With the kind of attacking threat and speed that Bayern possess, Gabriel has a good chance of starting, along with Kos. The Ox should start the game. Always get the feeling that Bayern are a wee bit suspect to pace and directness….
Ospina being injured has taken the difficult decision of whether to play him away from Mr.Wenger!
Really mixed emotions as to what result I want from this game, we’re not ready to win the Champions League but capable of the league and cup double which would be amazing.
No injuries,smash the toffee’s at the weekend and let the two Manc clubs slug it out sounds good to me.
Not just Bayern..Its Guardiola’s teams which look a bit suspect to directness with pace due to their overwhelming emphasis on possession.
Could be a relentless night, but if we can do one over Barcelona with Arshavin, we can do one over Bayern with RED-HOT-ALEXIS!
Bring it on!! COYG
Good to have him back. Let him pair with Koscielny tomorrow. Though my priority remains the BPL, a good result tomorrow can shoot the lads’ confidence sky high which in turns further enhances their belief in their ability to take down the best on their way to a domestic league title.
the confidence of six points from beating bayern would be good
the rebound from losing winnable games that don’t matter would also be good
so confidence from beating bayern and saving our rainy days for meaningless games that provoke a run of league wins in the other group games, would be potentially ideal
If we beat Bayern we should go all out for the group again – beating Bayern would be a sign we could win the CL
Really looking forward to the game. At the end of the day the whole point of playing CL is to see the boys up against the best. Come on you Gunners!
I can see Lewandowski inside Gabe’s pocket….
Arsenal gonna win this. We are like a typical student who studies hard when his ass is on fire to avoid that D on the finals.
Best player in the country is playing his sexy football at Arsenal.
Bring on Bayern..I see Sanchez turning Boateng much like Messi did and just pretty much scare Neuer into submission before he even hits the ball.
COYG!!!!
Him, Laurent and Francis are the only hard men in our team full of pretty boys. Good to have when things get physical
Disappointed with Ox that right midfield position is his and everyone knows that, Sad he can’t just nailed it down. He has to improve his defensive play and come back to form before iwobi and unbelievable Jeff catch up with him.
That’s the manager responsibility to maximize his own squad individual talent.