Arsenal can make Europe take notice tonight against Bayern – Suburban Gooners

It’s a very strange feeling today – about tonight’s game, I mean.

That’s because I’ve never felt as much “ahh, it’ll be fine” about a match against Bayern Munich as I did tonight. This is probably why I could never be an elite athlete, to be honest, because aside from the obvious lack of talent on the football field, my mentality is such that I would struggle to have the level of adrenaline as consistent as these players must have. I wouldn’t have been able to concentrate and even if I had trained yesterday and looked forward to tonight’s game, I would have thought in the back of my mind: ‘Everything is fine. We have 12 points, we probably only need 16 and even after tonight we still have two games to get a win and a draw.’

You can bet any spare change in your pocket (do people still have that these days??) that Mikel and his team won’t think of that. On the contrary, Mikel will think about doubling the intensity; the team were superb in probably the most intense match of the season this weekend and after a match like that there is always a little danger of after the Lord Mayor’s show on the matches, but with the arrival of Bayern – also one of the most in-form teams in Europe – Mikel will reflect on how winner-races-winner and he will think long and hard about maintaining the highest standards ahead of what is a more important (respectfully) game on Sunday against that disgusting west London football club. They certainly crushed a ten-man Barca team for virtually the entire second half, but it was still a ‘declared victory’ last night and if we approach this after a home defeat to Bayern, the worry is that it shatters the veneer of infallibility that this Arsenal team has built up so far this season.

With that in mind, I think Mikel is potentially going to pick his strongest team and I’m not sure how much rotation there might be. I have a feeling he will rotate in MLS for Calafiori given the Italian’s injury history and the fact that he missed a game for Italy a little over a week ago, but other than that I’m not sure he changes much.

Kepa does not replace Raya.

Whites don’t replace Timber (I don’t think so).

Cross-play.

Hincapie is playing to continue his form (I’m thinking of that one – although he might give a nod to Mosquera).

Zubi absolutely plays.

Rice will be first on the team sheet.

Eze is in great shape after his hat-trick and he will be around three inches taller after his weekend.

Saka never rests for a match like this.

Trossard is in the form of his life.

Merino will continue to replace him as it appears Big Vik is not back.

I feel like today is like a split minutes game, in that regardless of the score, I think Arsenal is rotating players to get minutes. Which means there will definitely be minutes for Martinelli, Madueke and Odegaard, I’m sure. You give these guys between 20 and 30 minutes each and that means they are a little fresher for the visit to This horrible club on the weekend and they are ready to hopefully put on a show.

I think Arteta will want to set a milestone today and that’s what he will tell his players. He’ll say “They all think we’re going to wilt under this pressure of being the bookmakers’ favorites for the Champions League. Tonight we show them why we thrive under that microscope” and you know what? I feel like this team is ready for that. They’ve overcome obstacles all season and if you’ve been a regular reader of this blog over the years, you’ll know that I tend to put up some sort of psychological protective barrier under the guise of pessimism. The reason is that in my mind, I feel like if you mentally prepare yourself for disappointment, when it happens, it’s not as painful as you think, although it’s still very painful. But I listened to a podcast this week – The Arsenal Vision one – and Tim Stillman said: ‘I trust this group of players.’ Me too, really. I feel like this group is so united, so aligned, so focused on their respective and collective tasks, that they even bring a cynical, pessimistic bugger like me into the world. Positive stone vibes (one for you in the comments, there, Pete ;-).

They continue to experience problems – like injuries – and continue to overcome them.

Well, tonight the problem is Bayern and that bar man, Harry Kane, who is drooling and eating pencils. And I’ll be honest with you, the points are important, but I want him to go home unhappy more than anything else. This man has marked a lot of goals penalties at the Emirates over the years and if there’s one thing I don’t want to see tonight it’s him adding to his aim penalty case against us. So let’s hope Saliba and Hincapie/Mosquera shut him up and we can have another one of those games where the opposition doesn’t get sniffed at.

Bayern are without Diaz tonight after his horrible ‘tackle’ on Hakimi in the PSG game and it’s a bit of a blow for them, and according to TransferMarkt they are without Musiala, Gnabry or Davies for tonight. All the good players, all the players who are impactful for them, so it gives us a little boost as much as our injuries could give them a boost. But the fact that it was a blunder means we should get a bit more, I hope. I want to see us win this statement, but the beauty of tonight is if we don’t, there won’t be a fire to put out. It’s a nice feeling against Bayern and I hope the players can really build on it on a night under the lights which I’m sure will be great.

I’ll leave it there for today. Hopefully we get another win, another boost of confidence, with even more impressive performances from an Arsenal team that has been a joy to watch so far.

We’ll all see you tomorrow.