Arsenal gave the Premier League a historic moment, at the weekend, after Max Dowman’s late goal. But, what it means for the club is far more than just a title of ‘youngest ever Premier League scorer’. It has shifted the power balance firmly into Arsenal’s hands as they claimed a nine point advantage over Manchester City. Pep Guardiola’s side stumbled against another relegation battling side. But, attention must now return to the Champions League as the Gunners have given themselves work to do. A 1-1 draw in the first leg isn’t the worst, but the performance was well below par. Let’s see what will be on offer this time around.

Form

Since I made a post last week detailing their form, check it out for the extended version of this section, I’m just going to quickly summarise their position.

Since the two sides met, Leverkusen engaged in an epic battle with Bayern Munich. It was a 1-1 draw, but Bayern ended up with two players sent off. This means that the German side remained 6th in the Bundesliga, five points off top four. They’re also now unbeaten in six games, in all competitions, which includes the 1-1 draw against Arsenal. It’s now three draws in a row, which is respectable considering the opposition. As well as this, they’ve lost just once in their last six away fixtures, across all competitions.

As mentioned above, check out last week’s post for a more detailed version of their form, with just a couple of updated statistics.

Injuries

The German side had a scare at the weekend after Martin Terrier was cynically fouled by Nicolas Jackson. He was subbed off, but has since recovered and is traveling with the Bayer squad. Nathan Tella has also returned to the pitch. The only players that seem likely to be missing are Mark Flekken, Loic Bade, Lucas Vazquez, Arthur and Eliesse Ben Seghir.

Arsenal have lost Jurrien Timber to injury, but have welcomed back Leandro Trossard who picked up a small injury prior to last week’s match against Leverkusen. Martin Odegaard will miss this tie as well, but will be pushing to be available for the EFL Cup final on Sunday.

Player to Watch: Christian Kofane

While Alejandro Grimaldo’s influence was proven last week, I want to shine a spotlight on someone else. This man gave William Saliba and Gabriel a very hard time and he will likely do the same again. Kofane is just 19 years old, but has the physicality of someone much older. He’s registered 5 goals and 4 assists in the Bundesliga in 23 appearances. That’s certainly good numbers for someone experiencing top flight football for the first time. He was plucked from the second tier of Spanish football from a side called Albacete. In his last five games he’s registered 4 goals and assists. In every club competition, he’s got a combined total of 15 G/A in 37 appearances. He features in the top three for each category at Leverkusen; goals per 90, expected goals, expected goals per 90, expected goals on target, shots on target per 90, shots per 90, expected goals and assists per 90 and possession won in the final third per 90. With all that information, his performance last Wednesday makes more sense. He’s become an integral part of this Leverkusen team and he looks set to cause more problems. Hopefully, Saliba and Gabriel are more assured.

Leverkusen Predicted Lineup

It won’t be much different to last week in my opinion. Kasper Hjulmand found a formula that worked. It blunted Arsenal and provided Leverkusen with the tools to hurt the North London side. We saw that the back three very quickly becomes a back five. In reverse, those two wide players stick to the touchline in possession and will get forward at any chance. Kofane proved to be an effective target man with Terrier and Ibrahim Maza picking up the pieces behind him. When they are transitioning, those four midfielders become one interchangeable unit. They then have the width from Grimaldo and Ernest Poku. Before you know it, you’re having to defend your channels, your interiors and a target man. It very quickly becomes a five man assault on your goal, with two technically gifted midfielders sweeping behind that. The only change I can see Hjulmand make is replacing Terrier with Malik Tillman. This is because of the nasty challenge that Terrier received, despite traveling, he may not be okay to start.

Arsenal Predicted Lineup

Now we know the injury news, this team feels like the one that could take us through. Mikel Arteta has suggested that Ben White is ready to start in Timber’s absence. Trossard is back, but I think I’d stick with Eberechi Eze. Noni Madueke deserves to start, but from the right his time. Bukayo Saka has looked good behind the striker. Kai Havertz is looking fitter and I can see Arteta preserving Viktor Gyokeres for the weekend. Who does need a rest for the weekend is Martin Zubimendi. Christian Norgaard is more than capable of stepping in. If we get ahead then Zubimendi can replace Declan Rice as the game moves on. I also feel as though Myles Lewis-Skelly deserves a start, he gives the side something that no one else really can. This time last year he was dominating against Real Madrid, he needs trust. With that being said we have plenty of talent to come off the bench; Gabriel Martinelli, Max Dowman, Gabriel Jesus, Viktor Gyokeres, Leandro Trossard, Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie.

Predicted Result: Arsenal 2-0 Leverkusen

Despite the disappointment of last week, that last minute penalty means that Leverkusen can’t just sit back. A 1-0 lead can result in a team sitting with everything behind the ball, but they have to come out and play. I do also think that the German side weren’t amazing last week, we just made them look better than they are. They had more shots, but we actually created better chances. This was away from home too, so we now have the comfort of the Emirates to really stamp our authority. If we can’t beat Leverkusen over two legs then we don’t deserve the Champions League anyway. I don’t think we’ll even really need to kick out of second gear. Just keep it tight, move the ball with purpose and don’t fall into any predictable play. 1-0 gets the job done, but let’s have a bit of comfort. Grab an early goal to settle the nerves and push on from there. Let’s get it!