Arteta: Dortmund clash will be crucial

Arsenal midfielder Mikel Arteta believes Tuesday’s clash against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League will be crucial in determining the Gunners position in Group F.

The North London club have taken maximum points from their first two games and are top of their group but will face last year’s finalists twice in as many weeks.

The Spaniard believes that if Arsenal can triumph against the German side they will be close to securing qualification to the knock out rounds.

Speaking to the Arsenal official website, he said:

We have two very difficult games coming up against Dortmund. After that we will know exactly where we are in the group. They are a very good side and they are doing well in their own league.
Winning the first two games makes a difference and now we have a massive game at home. If we win that one we are almost there. I think this is going to be a crucial one.

Arsenal have made a great start to the season but Arteta insists it’s too early predict to whether the Gunners can go all the way in the Champions League. He added:

We are still in the group stages. We have to qualify from a difficult group. There are big teams in there the likes of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
To compete against them on the day you have to be very, very good. If we win on Tuesday, it puts us in a great position. Last season we finished second and had to play Bayern. We have started well, we have a very strong team and we have more experience as well.

Arsenal found themselves in the group of death after the group stage draw held in late August and stared at the possibility of an early exit but the Gunners came out guns blazing in the opening matches and demonstrated their true class with their performances against Marseille and Napoli.

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Although it’s too early to predict who will end up in which position as the group is still wide open, Arsenal are the early pacesetters and a win over Dortmund on Tuesday night will put them in a very comfortable position.

The Champions League finalists won’t be an easy side to get a result against but Arsenal too have shown that they possess the ability of beating any side on their day. Even if the Gunners can’t beat Dortmund they should at least try to get same or better points than the German side in the back to back fixtures, so that they have the advantage going into the final 2 matches.

If Arsenal can still stay top after these fixtures then they will have a great chance of winning the group. I’m predicting a 2-1 win, what do you think?

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