At this stage of the competition last year Arsenal were well and truly outplayed at the Emirates by a Bayern Munich side that would eventually go on to win the Champions League.

A year on, Bayern are regarded as arguably the best team in the world, however, Arsenal have closed the gap slightly on their German counterparts.

Guardiola looking to end jinx

Bayern Munich boss Pep Guardiola has an unwanted record at the Emirates stadium. As a head coach he has yet to taste victory at the Emirates, seeing his Barcelona side draw and lose on his only two visits to the stadium.

Guardiola said: ‘It’s my third time as a trainer here to play against Arsenal. I’ve never won here.

‘I learnt that you can’t dominate 90 minutes against Arsenal. It’s impossible.

‘You can play good, you can dominate during half [of the] time, 30 minutes, 75 minutes, but complete 90 minutes it’s impossible. Always you have a problem.’

Guardiola has also noted that Arsenal’s biggest threat lies with their German playmaker Mesut Ozil.

The Spaniard, who managed against Real Madrid when Ozil was there, said: ‘He’s a big talent. We have to control him. The best way to control him is when Bayern have the ball. That’s what we’re going to try to do tomorrow.’

Wiser Arsenal will be more intelligent

Jack Wilshere believes that the Arsenal side which will face Bayern Munich on Wednesday night is a different prospect to the one which got knocked out by the eventual champions last year.

Despite the fact that Bayern have won 20 of their last 21 matches, the Gunners are expected to provide better opposition to the Germans than last season.

The English midfielder stated: ‘We were a bit nervous going into the game last year. We lost to Blackburn [in the FA Cup] the game before.

‘There was a lot of tension in the stadium and it was a big game. Once we calmed down a bit, we took the game to them a little bit. The third goal was a lucky goal and that killed us.

‘This year we’ll be intelligent going into the game. First of all we’ll work on our defensive duty and then we’ll play.’

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger echoed Wilshere’s comments.

‘We are in much better mental shape today than we were one year ago,’ Wenger said.

‘We have a strong team spirit, a strong desire to do well and a united team.’

Best in the world

Wenger was asked in his press conference whether he believed that Bayern were the best side in the world, and responded with:

‘They won the World Club Cup [last December], they won the European championship, so I would have to say yes.’

Although it will be a very difficult match for Arsenal, and is hard to see Arsenal progressing against such a strong team, the players can take belief from beating Bayern in the Allianz Arena last season.

Arsenal are an improved side on last year, and if they play to their potential then there is no reason why Arsenal cannot progress past the German giants.

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