3 reasons why Arsenal could stun Bayern Munich at The Emirates

Bayern’s team are unsettled

This point is perhaps the most wobbly or far-fetched of the lot, considering the simple fact that this Bavarian powerhouse of a team are quite clearly one of the best sides in Europe at the moment.

Yet, during the past few games we’ve seen Guardiola make a notable effort to bring back players to ensure their fitness for this coming Champions League tie: Bastian Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez.

Now Schweinsteiger has come back, slotted back into his usual position, and looked as though he never left, with his expert mix of physicality and genuine technique to keep the Bayern midfield machine ticking over. Martinez, though, is a slightly different story.

Guardiola has made an effort to slot him in at centre back at the expense of Jerome Boateng, who has on the whole had a relatively successful and consistent season alongside his Brazilian partner Dante, which we saw briefly against Nurnberg last week and against Freiburg on Saturday with mixed results.

Javi Martinez Tackle Success vs Freiburg – Bundesliga 2013/14

What will interest Wenger – if Martinez does indeed start at centre back – is the manner in which he continually found himself out of position, due to his instinctual nature to march through the centre of the pitch like the box-to-box midfielder he is, as well as his poor ability to stick in a challenge. The graphic above displays that perfectly. Martinez may be a future centre back in the making, but he isn’t perfect yet, which is something that Arsenal could definitely take advantage of.