Wenger gives up ghost

 

Ahead of Arsenal's unenviable trip to Bayern Munich, Christian Crowther takes a look at how the team news may affect the betting...

 

After Bayern Munich collected a stash of away goals to take back to Germany, Arsenal's already difficult task of qualifying quickly became dubbed Mission Impossible.

 

Unsurprisingly, the Bundesliga leaders are available at 1.02 to progress to the quarter-final stages following their commanding 3-1 win at the Emirates.

 

Now, with five points still to make up to Chelsea in fourth and Liverpool breathing down their necks in sixth, Arsene Wenger looks set to ring the changes in a bid to prioritise his top-four efforts.

 

The stark reality for Arsenal is that another Champions League dream will be ending prematurely in Germany.

 

Injury to his best player, Jack Wilshere, may well have persuaded Wenger to give up any hope of overturning the deficit and instead concentrate on Saturday's Premier League date with Swansea.

 

An inflamed left ankle will keep Wilshere out for up to three weeks and he will join other casualties Bacary Sagna and Lukas Podolski in missing the trip to Munich altogether.

 

Podolski represents Arsenal's top scorer in Europe with four so, without their most potent threat, the Gunners' chances diminish yet further.

 

The fact that Wenger is also considering benching Theo Walcott and Santi Cazorla means that Arsenal's goal threat suffers considerably.

 

A Bayern Munich win to nil can be backed at 2.66.

 

Wenger has left first-choice stopper Wojciech Szczesny behind for a rather euphemistic "rest", with Lukasz Fabianski expected to make his first appearance of the season in his place, while fringe players like Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Tomas Rosicky, Aaron Ramsey and Abou Diaby may feature form the start.

 

As for Bayern, who are searching for a twelfth straight win in all competitions, notable absentees include the suspended pairing of Bastian Schweinsteiger and Jerome Boateng, while Franck Ribery is definitely out and Arjen Robben is a doubt.

 

In most other squads in Europe, such misses could seriously damage performance levels, but the calibre of Bayern's replacements ensures Jupp Heynckes' side should still prosper comfortably against Arsenal's second string.

 

Luiz Gustavo looks set to slot into central midfield alongside Javi Martinez, while Thomas Muller and Xherdan Shaqiri should start on the flanks.

 

Three of the last four Bayern games in Europe have seen them lead at half-time and full-time and the Germans are available at 2.08 to repeat this pattern against Arsenal.

 

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