Arsenal defeated Bayern Munich 3-1 at the Emirates to take sole possession of first place in the Champions League table with Inter Milan losing to Atletico Madrid. The Gunners are the only remaining side
in the competition with a perfect record. The win also qualifies Arsenal for at least the playoff round of the knockout stage. The Gunners’ 15 points may be enough for a top 8 spot, and Arsenal have three more matches to play.
Coming into the evening, you could have made a case that Bayern Munich were the best team in Europe. You’d have been wrong — it’s Arsenal (or maybe PSG) — but I’d have entertained the argument. Arsenal comprehensively beat them. Bayern had more of the ball but did almost nothing with it. The possession was 60%-40% in favor of the German club. The expected goals, however, were all Arsenal — 2.72 to 0.78 (3.1-0.6 elsewhere) and 7 big chances to 1.
Bayern Munich came out energized to start the match and had a strong opening 5-10 minutes, albeit without creating much threat. Michael Olise looked bright on their right side and gave Myles Lewis-Skelly a tough time the entire night. But Arsenal settled quickly and took control of the match, looking far the more dangerous side.
The Gunners opened the scoring from a corner, ending a run of 10-consecutive goals from open play. Bukayo Saka, as he always does, hit a wonderful corner and Jurrien Timber headed home at the near post. It looked easy, honestly. Manuel Neuer tried to bump Timber as he ran through the six-yard box to draw a foul but the referee was having none of it. As a result, Neuer was out of position and left flapping helplessly. Hat-tip to Martin Zubimendi, whose hustle won the corner.
Bayern struck back just 10 minutes after going behind. It was more or less a perfect goal. A 50-yard diagonal ball to find Serge Gnabry in stride, a first-touch volleyed pass, and a one-touch finish from 17-year old Lennart Karl. That’s what it takes to score on Arsenal — near-perfection. If you wanted to nitpick, both Myles Lewis-Skelly and Cristhian Mosquera were caught ever so slightly flat-footed. Had they been quicker to step up, they’d have put the attack offside. From there, they didn’t have the pace to catch up to players already on (or close to) a full sprint, and you’d not expect them to.
Sometimes a really good team like Bayern is just going to do that to ‘ya. It certainly can’t have helped that Myles Lewis-Skelly has hardly played this season (and isn’t a left back by trade) and that he and Mosquera are a brand new partnership on the left side of the defense. As I mentioned earlier, MLS had a tough night. Mosquera, on the other hand, was quite good.
That the sides were level at the break flattered Bayern. They generated one chance in the first half, had one shot on target, and scored from it. Arsenal were firmly the better of the two sides.
The Gunners ratcheted it up in the second half, peppering Neuer’s goal with chances from set pieces and open play alike. But for their keeper, Bayern easily could have been down two or three goals 15-20 minutes into the second half. Arsenal were swarming, led by Declan Rice’s relentless energy. Speaking of relentlessness, how about those Arsenal substitutions? Bayern’s reward for keeping the match level through 68 minutes was seeing Mikel Arteta bring on Riccardo Calafiori and Gabriel Martinelli, which shifted Noni Madueke (who’d replaced an injured Leandro Trossard in the first half) to the right.
The fresh legs on the Arsenal left immediately, and I mean immediately, pressed Dayot Upamecano into a terrible turnover. The Bayern CB passed it directly to Declan Rice in the middle of the pitch. Calafiori surged forward and between defenders and with his first touch of the ball hit a lovely cross for Noni Madueke to volley home (and open his Arsenal account).
Less than 10 minutes later, the substitutes made the difference again. Calafiori, who did a much better job corralling Olise, contained the tricky winger and ushered him into an alley of Arsenal defenders. Someone knocked the ball away and Gabriel Martinelli, a few steps outside his own box, gathered the loose ball. The Brazilian laid it off and took off up the pitch like he was shot out of a cannon. As soon as he started running, I thought to myself “this is trouble for Bayern.”
Ebere Eze launched it up the pitch with precisely the right weight and distance for the Brazilian to collect. Manuel Neuer, who much like David Raya found himself in a bad spot against Spurs at the weekend, decided to try to cut out the long ball instead of retreating. Martinelli easily beat him to the spot, touched it around the keeper, left Neuer looking rather foolish, and had a run at an empty net. He touched it home for the insurance goal and that was that. Martinelli, by the way, has scored in each of his four Champions League appearances this season.
Martin Ødegaard and Ben White both got late runouts as they work back into the rotation. The only concern for the Gunners was what appeared to be a left calf injury for Leandro Trossard. His movement didn’t look terribly restricted but he did go straight down the tunnel as he came off the pitch.
It would be nice if Arsenal could stop losing attackers to injury but that seems to be how it goes. Fortunately, they added depth in the summer and should be getting players back soon. Both Kai Havertz and Viktor Gyokeres are in contention for Chelsea at the weekend. Gabriel Jesus has returned to training, too. For those of you keeping track at home, that’s 7 goals in 2 matches for the Gunners without that trio of strikers.
The attention shifts to the weekend — Arsenal travel to Stamford Bridge to face second-place Chelsea with a chance to take a commanding lead in the Premier League.
