I wonder if Dortmund will really press Arsenal.
If they sit back they’ll lose by one or three goals.
But if Borussia Dortmund press Arsenal as fiercely as they pressed Bayern Munich on Saturday night, Matchday 5 might be a challenging one at the Emirates.
The German champions were off-form at the start of the season but have now regained last season\’s verve and penetration.
Saturday night at the Allianz was the biggest game in the Bundesliga so far this term. Bayern are top and want to regain the title they lost to Dortmund.
The same fixture last season, in February, was a shocker : Dortmund beat them 3-1.
These days Bayern are a ruthless all-star outfit with plenty of goalscorers. They had Robben back after six weeks out. But Schweinsteiger\’s broken collarbone keeps him out till January. They rested big centreback Daniel Van Buyten, presumably to save him for the Champions League.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are a high-energy team who hustle and press, a team built to counter-attack after winning tackles and interceptions, as well as playing out quickly from the back.
Dortmund have the collective desire to battle for every ball, every cross, every rebound, every yard. They play a tempo game. If they fight like that, Arsenal’s slower players, like Arteta, Mertesacker and Fattysantos, could be found out.
However, Polish centre forward Robert Lewandowski is no better than the strikers Arsenal face in the EPL every week.
Lewandowski\’s style is what you need if you play the way Dortmund do and use that 4-2-3-1 system. The Pole likes to get the ball on the halfway line and take on defences, and get passes in for runners supporting him.
I reckon Lewandowski is a welterweight and no world-beater. Song might snuff him out at source. Let’s keep an eye on what happens there.
Arsenal target Mario Gotze is a sharp, tidy attacker who takes corners and free-kicks and can play people in with a clever little pass.
Bayern was a tight game and 0-0 at half-time.
Then Gotze scored.
Jerome Boateng, a right back deputising at centreback, lost sight of a dropping ball inside the box, and the lively Gotze snapped up the chance, firing the loose ball just inside the post.
So, after 65 minutes, Bayern were 1-0 down.
Dortmund were able to defend that 1-0 lead for the next 25+ minutes and it got a bit tasty. Most Bundesliga games are fairly orderly affairs but there were a few bodies flying up in the air, as Bayern players, clearly rattled, lashed out a few times.
Last season Borussia Dortmund were a bright, busy, very determined side, piloted by the innovative young Klopp.
But back in September, when Arsenal drew 1-1 there, Dortmund didn\’t impress anybody. Since then, they’ve improved.
If Dortmund had lost on Saturday they\’d have been fourth in the table. That win puts them second, two points behind Bayern. But they\’re only third in their Champions League group, so Arsenal is a must-win game for them.
Can they contain Van Persie? Don\’t know. How will blond left back Schmelzer do against Theo Walcott? Don’t know.
Is a match between two German teams similar to a match between an EPL team and a German team? No, not at all.
Mertesacker knows all about Lewandowski, I’m sure. He must have played against him a few times.
We know that Arsenal can pass the ball, create chances, and score goals, so that\’s not the issue.
What\’s interesting is how the Arsenal defence plays.
With Szczesny still raw but growing into the role, and the powerful Vermaelen restored at last as their kingpin, Arsenal are at last starting to look as solid as they did when Sol Campbell was playing.
But, as I’ve already noted, Dortmund kept a clean sheet away to Bayern Munich. For the first time in their history, Dortmund have beaten Bayern three times in a row. That makes them heroes in every region of Germany outside Bavaria.
This key Champions League encounter finds Dortmund on a high, playing well, defending soundly.
So it could be a fascinating, close contest.
My gut feeling is that this will be a one-goal game.
But, of course, any five minutes in the match could blow that prediction sky high.