Borussia Dortmund vs. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Arsenal-c38429 – UEFA Champions League Preview
Reigning Bundesliga champions Borussia Dortmund are set to host Arsenal on Tuesday, September 13, at Signal Iduna Park for their opening Champions League fixture.
The two teams find themselves in Group F alongside Olympique Marseille and Olympiacos. Both managers will look to better each other in order to build confidence ahead of the tricky fixtures lined up for the coming weeks.
Borussia Dortmund
The Black Yellows will enter the game as favourites against the struggling Gunners on Tuesday. The reigning champions have struggled so far in the league as they lost to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Hertha-BSC-c39521 at home last Saturday.
Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp will have the full squad to choose from, which certainly is an advantage for the home side. Midfielder Mario Gotze will also be available for the game having missed the club’s last league fixture due to suspension.
The Borussians will definitely want to get their acts together ahead of this all important fixture and build confidence for the future assignments. Dortmund have won only two of their last five fixtures and find themselves 11th in the Bundesliga table. Klopp will be eager to make a winning start to their Champions League challenge and progress through to the next round.
Arsenal
Arsene Wenger’s side have so far struggled in the English Premier League but a confident start against Dortmund in the Champions League might get them back to winning ways. The Gunners so far have only managed one league win from four games and are 12th on the table with four points.
The North London side recently received a boost with the inclusion of former http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mikel-Arteta-c25715 and Werder Bremen’s defender Per Mertesacker. Both the players will definitely be a part of the travelling squad as the visitors will look to make amends of their poor start in the league.
Team News
Borussia Dortmund
The home side will go in with a 4-2-3-1 formation. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Roman-Weidenfeller-c31655 will once again be guarding the net for the Black Yellows.
There are no major injury worries for the hosts and Jurgen Klopp is likely to name an unchanged squad from the last game with the exception of Gotze, who missed http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Berlin-c7536’s challenge due to suspension.
Arsenal
The Gunners will adapt a 4-3-3 formation. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wojciech-Szczesny-c36998 will start in goal for the visitors.
Players to Watch
Midfielder Mario Gotze will be the key to home side’s aspirations especially having continuously been linked with a move to the Premier League during the summer. The player will definitely want to make some sort of an impact in order to lead his club to a home win over their struggling opponents.
Arsenal will ideally want everybody to perform against the young German outfit in order to bring the wining habit back. Experienced midfielder Mikel Arteta will be the man to watch as his accurate crosses and the ability to score from distance could pose threat to the home side’s ambitions.
Prediction
Both sides look solid on paper but Dortmund enjoy a slight advantage as they are playing on their home ground. The Gunners have already proved their inability to defend against quality attacking display and same might be the case in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Germany-c2904 later tonight. In spite of struggling themselves this season so far, Dortmund look good to edge out Arsenal by a 2-1 margin.
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