Champions League - Matchpack: Arsenal v Borussia Dortmund

Team news, manager quotes and stats ahead of the Champions League Group F match between Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund at Emirates Stadium.

By : Eurosport
 
Team news
Arsenal midfielder Mathieu Flamini will miss out because of concussion. The Frenchman came off midway through the first half of Saturday's 4-1 victory over Norwich City in the Premier League and he trained with the team on Monday, raising expectations he might be back in time for the Group F match.
Dortmund to follow....

Manager quotes
Arsene Wenger (Arsenal): "At the time [of the last meeting between the sides in 2011] they were short of experience in the Champions League and since then they have reached the final last year, so they will have more confidence. The structure of the team and the quality of the team is similar. [German teams] have the desire to play, to play with a positive attitude and they have produced many good players. We have some German players and know they are quality. It makes it an open game because they don't hide and we don't hide, so it should be an exciting game tomorrow."

Jurgen Klopp (Dortmund): to follow...

Match facts
The Gunners are in the group stage for the 16th season in a row. For the sixth time in eight campaigns they had to negotiate a qualifying round, dispatching Fenerbahçe SK 5-0 on aggregate in the play-offs with Aaron Ramsey scoring three times.

Dortmund are in their ninth UEFA Champions League campaign. They were victorious in the 1997 edition and last season was their most successful campaign since then, remaining unbeaten until the semi-final second leg when they lost 2-0 at Real Madrid CF. They still won the tie 4-3 on aggregate after Robert Lewandowski scored all four in a 4-1 first-leg win in Dortmund.

An earlier visit to Santiago Bernabéu in last season's group stage had ended 2-2 while apart from the draw at Manchester City they also won 4-1 at AFC Ajax in the group stage. In the knockout rounds they drew 2-2 at FC Shakhtar Donetsk and 0-0 at Málaga CF, although this season's matchday one defeat in Naples means they have lost their last two UEFA Champions League away matches and are without a win in their last four.

Tomáš Rosický played for Dortmund between 2000 and 2006, scoring 19 goals in 149 Bundesliga games.
Per Mertesacker, Mesut Özil and Lukas Podolski are team-mates with Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Kevin Grosskreutz, Sebastian Kehl, İlkay Gündoğan and Marco Reus in the German national side.

Arsenal goalkeepers Łukasz Fabiański and Wojciech Szczęsny play for Poland along with Jakub Błaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski and Łukasz Piszczek.

Jack Wilshere appeared as a second-half substitute in England's 2-0 win over Poland in a FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifier at Wembley on 15 October. Błaszczykowski and Szczęsny played the full game for the visitors, Lewandowski was replaced at half-time, and Kieran Gibbs was an unused substitute for the hosts.

Podolski won the 2007/08 DFB-Pokal with Bayern in a 2-1 win against Dortmund after extra time. He scored twice against Dortmund in 14 encounters during his eight years with 1. FC Köln and Bayern between 2004 and 2012 with the record W3 D3 L8.

Özil played for Schalke and SV Werder Bremen from 2006 to 2010. He made eight appearances against Dortmund (W3 D2 L3) and scored for Bremen in a 1-1 draw on 8 November 2009.

Özil faced Dortmund four times for Real Madrid in last season's UEFA Champions League. In the group stage his 89th minute free-kick earned a 2-2 draw.

Mertesacker scored two goals in 16 appearances against Dortmund during his career with Hannover 96 and SV Werder Bremen between 2003 and 2011. His record was W5 D3 L8.

Oliver Giroud scored France's opening goal in their 2-1 friendly win against Germany in Bremen on 29 February 2012. The home team included Hummels and Reus, with Schmelzer on the bench.

Szczęsny played for Poland in a 2-2 draw – Błaszczykowski and Lewandowski scoring the goals – with Schmelzer's Germany in a September 2011 friendly in Gdansk. Hummels was on the German bench.