Borussia Dortmund have climbed up the UEFA coefficient rankings over the years, but they haven't been able to escape Arsenal. In three of the last four years, BVB have been drawn with the Gunners in the Champions League group stage. They failed to get out of their group in the 2011-12 tournament, but they bested the Gunners last year, winning a tough group that also included Napoli.
Borussia Dortmund vs. Arsenal preview: Injury issues mean it’s anyone’s game
Both teams have undergone some serious changes over the summer, even if they retain the cores of the teams that split victories in their matches last season. Dortmund lost Robert Lewandowski, but instead of attempting to replace him like-for-like, they brought in four new attacking stars -- Adrian Ramos, Pierre Emerick-Aubameyang, Ciro Immobile and Shinji Kagawa. At least two of those players will start on Tuesday. The Gunners have seriously bolstered their attack, adding Alexis Sanchez and Danny Welbeck, who should be first choice for the foreseeable future.
But both teams also retain some of the problems that plagued them last year. Fitness issues have plagued them, with BVB getting the worse of the injury bug at the moment. They’re both a bit thin in the center of midfield, for various reasons. They’re excellent counter-attacking sides who both struggle to stop the counter, so a high-scoring affair could be on the cards when they meet for the first time.
Arsene Wenger and Jürgen Klopp haven’t done tons of tinkering with their squads, so it’s pretty easy to figure out what everyone’s going to see on Tuesday. They’ll line up in matching formations as well. The game will probably come down more to individual players than tactics, which usually makes for a fun match.
Team news
Dortmund has an extremely long injury list, including some of their biggest stars. Their starting XI will be strong, but there won't be much depth behind them. Mats Hummels, Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gündoğan, Nuri Şahin and star attacker Marco Reus will all miss out on the match.
Arsenal's injury list is much shorter, but because of their lack of depth in defense, it might be more punishing. Mathieu Debuchy and Nacho Monreal are both out, while Calum Chambers has tonsillitis and will face a late fitness test. If he can't play, Arsenal will be down to three senior defenders, meaning youngster Héctor Bellerín -- who traveled to Germany -- might need to play a part. Strikers Yaya Sanogo and Olivier Giroud are also out.
Projected lineups
Dortmund (4-2-3-1): Roman Weidenfeller; Erik Durm, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Neven Subotic, Lukasz Piszczek; Sven Bender, Milos Jojic; Kevin Großkreutz, Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan; Adrian Ramos
Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Wojciech Szczesny; Kieran Gibbs, Laurent Koscielny, Per Mertesacker, Calum Chambers; Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey; Santi Cazorla, Mesut Özil, Alexis Sanchez; Danny Welbeck
Sebastian Kehl has been starting in the league for Dortmund, but he's a bit of a statue at this point in his career. It would be surprising if Sven Bender didn't start to account for Arsenal's speed, whether that's in place of Kehl or next to him. Henrikh Mkhitaryan on the wing is a bit odd, but Klopp once said that Kagawa playing on the wing made him cry, so he can't exactly go and do that now, can he?
Arsenal might find a place for Jack Wilshere after his goal at the weekend, but at the moment, it's tough to argue that their best team includes the midfielder. They could find a place for him and drop Santi Cazorla, but that seems pretty silly.
Three keys
Arsenal's most defensive midfielder vs. Dortmund's counter - Mathieu Flamini has lost a step and Mikel Arteta never was much of a midfield destroyer. Dortmund's bread and butter always has been fast counters through the center, and between Kagawa's return and Mkhitaryan starting on the wing, they'll be doing even more of that. Can Arteta or Flamini provide any opposition to them?
Danny Welbeck's finishing - Danny Welbeck gets into great positions and creates wonderful scoring chances for himself. He's just been pretty bad at finishing them lately, and his Arsenal debut was no exception. He's going to need to start putting the ball into the goal pretty quickly.
Whoever plays right back for Arsenal - There's going to be a problem no matter what on the right side for Arsenal. Calum Chambers might not be fully fit, so what do they do if he's completely out of gas before the 90th minute, or can't start at all? Play Bellerin? Move Flamini to right back? Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain? The good news for them is that Reus isn't starting, but it's not like Großkreutz is a bum. He'll probably make a gassed Chambers, or Bellerin, or fake defender look bad.
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