Arsenal vs Borussia Dortmund
UEFA Champions League – Group F
Emirates Stadium
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Kick off: 7.45pm BST
Arsenal are firing on all cylinders at the moment and can take a giant step towards qualifying from their Champions League group on Tuesday night when they host German side Borussia Dortmund.
Arsenal preview
The Gunners are in great form, both domestically and on the continent, and many Arsenal fans are predicting that this will be the season to end an eight-year silverware drought.
A 4-1 victory over Norwich at the weekend extended their lead at the top of the Premier League table, with Arsene Wenger’s men winning seven straight matches domestically.
In the Champions League, Arsenal also top the group after beating Marseille in France and Napoli at home. Another win here would have them “80 per cent” sure of qualifying, according to Wenger.
Mathieu Flamini will be unavailable after suffering a concussion against the Canaries, and Aaron Ramsey should return to the starting line-up in his place as a result. Santi Cazorla and Mesut Ozil played together for the first time at the weekend and should again look to work together to create chances for Olivier Giroud. Jack Wilshere has scored two goals in two games.
Theo Walcott was expected to be in the reckoning for this clash, but has suffered an injury setback and is likely to be sidelined for an extra fortnight.
Arsenal go into the game as favourites with Coral Bet at odds of 27/20 for the hosts to pick up an invaluable three points. If you are having a bet on the match, Coral have just unleashed a new £50 free bet check it out here for more information.
Dortmund preview
Jurgen Klopp’s men were beaten in the Champions League final by domestic rivals Bayern Munich last season and will be motivated to go one step better this term.
The Signal Iduna Park outfit sit three points behind Arsenal in Group F, after losing against Napoli in Italy but beating Marseille at home in their last outing.
Dortmund sit second in the Bundesliga after seven wins from their opening nine games, a point behind Bayern. A Marco Reus penalty was enough for Klopp’s men to beat Hannover 1-0 at the weekend.
At the back, Mats Hummels will return to the side after serving a domestic suspension, while 21-year-old defender Eric Durm looks likely to continue at left-back. In midfielder the visitors are without Ilkay Gundogan, with former Liverpool loanee Nuri Sahin set to continue in his absence.
In attack, the attacking quartet of Reus, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Robert Lewandowski will look to get the goals to win the clash.
Dortmund are at odds of 2/1 to win in England, while the draw is valued at 23/10 with Coral.
Arsenal vs Dortmund stats
Head to Head
These two met in the Champions League back in 2011-12, with Arsenal winning 2-1 on home soil and a late Ivan Perisic strike ensuring the spoils were shared 1-1 in Germany.
Recent form
Arsenal are the form side in England and will go into the game full of confidence having won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions; the other result was a 1-1 draw against West Brom.
Dortmund have also started their campaign well, but have showed signs of slowing down of late. They toiled to their win over Hannover at the weekend and suffered their first domestic defeat the week before, losing 2-0 to Borussia Monchengladbach. That said, Dortmund have won 10 of their 13 competitive fixtures this term.
Prediction
Dortmund have the talent to get a result at the Emirates, but the Gunners are in fantastic form and will fancy their chances. A 2-1 win for Arsenal.
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