Defeats against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiakos in their first two Group F games have left Arsenal in urgent need of a win, but now they face a daunting double confrontation against Bayern, who are surely the best team in Europe on current form.
At least Arsenal warmed up by winning 3-0 at Watford on Saturday, their third straight victory in the Premier League. “We just need to move on from the first couple of results, they have happened. We know we are capable of getting results against Bayern Munich and we obviously want to put things right,” said striker Theo Walcott.
Bayern have won their first two Group F games, scoring eight goals without reply. Pep Guardiola's side also became the first club in the history of the Bundesliga to win their first nine matches of a season when they edged out Werder Bremen 1-0 on Saturday. They achieved that without Douglas Costa, who was rested at the Weserstadion. Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery have also been on the sidelines while Robert Lewandowski, after 15 goals in his previous six matches, failed to find the net with Thomas Mueller getting the winner. Mueller also scored as Bayern won on their last two visits to the Emirates Stadium in 2013 (3-1) and 2014 (2-0).
Reigning European champions Barcelona are widely expected to see off BATE Borisov but should be wary of opponents who beat Roma 3-2 at home in their last Group E game. BATE secured their 10th consecutive Belarusian title on Friday with a 2-0 win at FC Vitebsk giving them an unassailable 10-point lead from nearest rivals Dinamo Minsk with three games to go.
Barcelona, meanwhile, travel fresh from beating Rayo Vallecano 5-2 on Saturday as Neymar scored four goals and Luis Suarez once. Such form from that pair should help Barca cope in the continuing absence of the injured Lionel Messi, who scored twice when the Catalans beat BATE 5-0 in Belarus in 2011. Andres Iniesta (hamstring) and Rafinha (knee) are also on the sidelines for Barca.
Jose Mourinho's erratic Chelsea team go to Ukraine to take on Dynamo Kiev knowing defeat would seriously complicate their chances of progressing from Group G. Chelsea eased some of the pressure on Mourinho by beating Aston Villa 2-0 in the Premier League on Saturday, but go into Tuesday's game on the back of a 2-1 defeat at his former club Porto in their previous group match.
“Obviously you don't need to lose and lose and lose, because then psychological issues are coming into the game,” said the Portuguese, who is without Branislav Ivanovic due to a hamstring injury for the game at the Olympic Stadium.
The Ukrainian champions have taken four points from their first two games but are coming off the back of a 3-0 defeat at home to great rivals Shakhtar Donetsk on Friday, their first defeat since losing to the same opponents in the domestic Super Cup in July.
Fixtures: Group E – BATE Borisov vs FC Barcelona, Bayer Leverkusen vs AS Roma
Group F – Arsenal vs Bayern Munich, Dinamo Zagreb vs Olympiakos
Group G – Dynamo Kiev vs Chelsea, FC Porto vs Maccabi Tel Aviv
Group H – Zenit St Petersburg vs Lyon, Valencia vs KAA Gent
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