Arsenal host German giants Dortmund at the Emirates Stadium tonight in the Champions League. The Gunners only need a draw to qualify for the knockout stages of the competition for the 15th consecutive season.A draw in north London will mean that the German side win the group and Arsenal finish as runners-up. The Gunners would need to defeat Dortmund and hope the visitors lose against Anderlecht in their last fixture to win group D.

Arsene Wenger side have not won in their last three games in all competitions, and have suffered 2-1 defeats against Swansea and Manchester United, while also drawing 3-3 with Anderlecht in this competition.

The Gunners dominated possession against Manchester United in their last outing, but were hit on the counter-attack by the Red Devils.

The visitors form has been poor in the Bundesliga this season. They are currently 16th in the German top-flight table, an incredible 19 points behind perennial title rivals Bayern Munich. Jurgen Klopp’s side threw away a two goal lead against Paderborn last time out to draw 2-2.

Their European form has been the bright spot of their season though, as they have won all four Champions League games and conceded just one goal in the process. One of those victories came against Arsenal at the Signal Iduna Park in the opening game of the group, as the German side defeated the team from north London 2-0.

Arsenal have lost the last four consecutive home games against German teams, with the 2011 victory over Dortmund their last home win against German opposition.

The home side still have a number of injury problems with the likes of David Ospina, Mathieu Debuchy and Mesut Ozil still sidelined through injuries. Winger Theo Walcott, Serge Gnabry, Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny are also doubts, after the latter two went off injured against Manchester United.

French striker Olivier Giroud made a scoring return from injury from the bench against Manchester United, but is ineligible to play in the group stages as the Gunners believed he would be out until the knockout stages.

Dortmund have some real injury issues of their own. Star forward Marco Reus will miss the game after sustaining knee ligament damage in that draw against Paderborn. He joins Mats Hummels, Sven Bender, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Nuri Sahin and Sokratis Papastathopoulos on the Dortmund injury list. — Online

 

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