against a team in scorching form in the Bundesliga and
Champions League. Borussia Dortmund are on fire now with
just a loss in their last six games and its also worth noting
that they have won all the home fixtures (eight in total) in all
competitions this season. Arsenal on the other hand,
are unbeaten in 14 away matches in all competitions since
recording a famous win at Bayern Munich in March.
Dortmund have been chasing Bayern Munich frantically in the
Bundesliga and are just a point behind the Bavarians at the
summit of the German first division. They have sealed
victories in their last four fixtures, which includes a narrow
2-1 win over Arsenal at the Emirates and last weekend, their
hot streak continued as they pummeled VFB Stuttgart with
six goals.
Borussia Dortmund's manager, Jurgen Klopp, will leave no
stone unturned to get the better of Arsenal again when they
visit the Signal Iduna Park tonight. He had spoken about his
admiration for Arsenal's gaffer, Arsene Wenger, and poured
cold water on any hopes of managing Arsenal in the near
future. According to Klopp, Arsenal was more like an
orchestra, that treats the ball like a delicacy but he prefers
heavy metal music and this was on display when his team
visited the Emirates with their heavy pressing game and high
octane football.
At home, there have been over 2.5 goals scored
in six of Borussia Dortmund's last seven games in the
Champions League (including qualifiers) so the Gunners have to
be very mindful of the attacking threat they pose because
they have a lot of talented individuals that will hurt the
Gunners given half a chance.
With Arsenal, Dortmund and Napoli all on six points, tonight's
set of fixtures will be key as every result will set the tone
for the destinies of these sides vying for qualification into the
latter stages of the competition. If Arsenal manages to get a
draw against Borussia Dortmund and Napoli beat Marseille, it
would leave Napoli sitting pretty with nine points and they'll
still have a home clash against the Gunners in San Paolo,
Naples.
This would mean that the Gunners would face a daunting
task of defeating Napoli in Italy as well as making sure they
dispatch Marseille at home to seal qualification. However,
losing to Dortmund will put the Gunners in a mightily precarious
situation and they would be hoping for Marseille to get some
points off Napoli, which seems rather unlikely if you judge the
performances of both sides thus far in the Champions League
this season.
Napoli are likely to win at home to Marseille, so whoever loses
this match could be left three points behind staring the
Europa League in the face. Arsenal are on great form, but so
are Dortmund, who are equally on fire following a 6-1 drubbing
of VfB Stuttgart at the weekend. The Germans taught
Arsenal a lesson a fortnight ago at the Emirates, and with
the home advantage this time they will be even more likely to
win.
The Gunners are in high spirits ahead of the game with Mikel
Arteta stating that his team isn't inferior to Dortmund, while
Arsenal's Man on Fire, Aaron Ramsey, has promised that the
team is going to be street wise against the German outfit.
To injury news, Dortmund will be without their key defender,
Matts Hummels, that suffered a thigh injury in the win
agaianst Stuttgart but with Neven Subotic rested, he'll be
odds on to play alongside the Greek powerhouse, Sokratis
Papathathopoulos, that scored twice against Stuttgart.
Dortmund would also be without club captain Sebastian Kehl
(ankle), despite the midfielder returning to training, while
Lukasz Piszczek (groin) and Ilkay Gundogan (back) will
definitely miss out.
At Arsenal, Jack Wilshere remains sidelined with an ankle injury
while Kieran Gibbs has been declared fit and available to play
despite his muscular problems against Liverpool last weekend.
However, the usual suspects are still out which
include Mathieu Flamini (groin), Theo Walcott (abdomen), Lukas
Podolski (hamstring), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Abou Diaby
(both knee), while young winger Serge Gnabry is struggling
with an ankle injury.
