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Arsenal logo
Champions League | Group Stage
Nov 26, 2014 at 7.45pm UK
 
Dortmund logo

2-0

Sanogo (2'), Sanchez (57')
FT(HT: 1-0)

Preview: Arsenal vs. Borussia Dortmund

Sports Mole previews Wednesday night's Group D Champions League clash between Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund.

Despite their worrying recent form, Arsenal have all but qualified for the knockout stage of the Champions League for the 15th straight season.

Avoiding defeat at home to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday will guarantee their place in the last 16.

If the match is a draw it will ensure that Dortmund win Group D, with Arsenal having to settle for second place. If the Gunners win, though, they still have an outside chance of coming top but will need Anderlecht to do them a favour by pulling off an unlikely victory in Dortmund on matchday six.

It wouldn't be so complicated for Arsene Wenger's side if they hadn't spectacularly thrown away a three-goal lead at home to Anderlecht last time out - the first game of their current three-match winless streak.

On Saturday they dominated Manchester United for much of the game but fell to a 2-1 loss at the Emirates, making it two league defeats in a row.

Olivier Giroud came off the bench to score their consolation after making his earlier-than-expected return from a broken leg, but he won't be able to play in two days' time as he wasn't registered for this stage of the competition because Arsenal thought that he wouldn't be fit until the knockouts.

Jack Wilshere and Wojciech Szczesny came off injured against United and could miss out on Wednesday.

The Champions League has been Dortmund's only positive this season given their surprisingly poor form in the Bundesliga.

Jurgen Klopp's side have won all four games in Group D, conceding just one goal, but have been out of sorts domestically.

On Saturday they were 2-0 up at half time against Paderborn, but were pegged back in the second half and only managed a point, leaving them 16th in the table and a whopping 19 points shy of league leaders Bayern Munich.

Marco Reus scored the second but was then stretchered off with ankle ligament damage and will be out for at least two months.

He joins Mats Hummels, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Sven Bender, Nuri Sahin and Sokratis Papastathopoulos on the Dortmund injury table.

These two sides have been in the same Champions League group in three of the last four seasons, with Dortmund winning the reverse at Signul Iduna Park 2-0 on matchday one.

Since Arsenal's November 2011 win over Dortmund they have lost four games in a row at home to German opposition.

Arsenal:

Form in Champions League: DWLWWD
Form in all competitions: WWWLDD

Possible starting lineup: Martinez; Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Gibbs; Flamini, Arteta; Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sanchez, Podolski; Welbeck

Dortmund:

Form in Champions League: LWWWWW
Form in all competitions: LWLWWD

Possible starting lineup: Weidenfeller; Piszczek, Subotic, Ginter, Durm; Gundogan, Kehl; Mkhitaryan, Kagawa, Jojic; Aubameyang

Sports Mole says: 2-2


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Borussia Dortmund manager Jurgen Klopp during the friendly with Liverpool on August 10, 2014
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