Bayern Munich Women vs Arsenal Women prediction: German giants may squish Gunners | OneFootball

Arsenal travel to Bayern Munich on Wednesday as they get their Women’s Champions League campaign underway at the FC Bayern Campus (5.45pm, DAZN and YouTube).

The Gunners have had a mixed start to the WSL season with two draws and just one win from their opening three games. The win was a narrow 1-0 success over Leicester while they drew 2-2 with Manchester City and 0-0 with Everton at the weekend.

They have also played four qualifying matches to reach this stage of the Champions League after finishing third in the Women’s Super League last season, behind Chelsea and City.

They beat Rangers 6-0 and Rosenborg 1-0 before overcoming another Swedish side in Hacken 4-1 on aggregate in a two-legged affair.

Arsenal lost the away leg against Hacken 1-0 and betting sites are forecasting another tough European away trip with Bayern a best-price of 11/8 for the win.

Bayern qualified for the tournament automatically after winning the Frauen-Bundesliga in style last season, winning 19 and drawing three of their 22 league matches to secure back-to-back championships.

However, despite their impressive domestic form, they failed to advance past the group stage of the Champions League last time around.

So far this season they have played five and won five league games, scoring 18 and conceding just three. They have scored 16 in their last four games, including a 4-0 win over Werder Bremen and 6-2 over RB Leipzig despite having a player sent off in both matches.

The two sides have met five times in total, with the German side just edging the head-to-head 3-2 but Arsenal did come out on top the last time the sides met in the competition in March 2023.

After losing the first leg 1-0 at the Allianz Arena, goals from Frida Maanum and Stina Blackstenius secured a 2-0 win to send the Gunners into the semi-finals of the competition for the first time in a decade. Both players could feature on Wednesday and would love a repeat performance.

Arsenal boss Jonas Eidevall will know his side will have to be at their best though, if they are to take all three points and not just because of the form of the German side. The Gunners don’t have the best of records when it comes to away games in this competition, having won just one of their last five. That win was a 9-1 win over FC Zurich in December 2022 with five different goalscorers and a hat-trick from Maanum securing the win.

Captain Leah Williamson is back in contention to start for Arsenal on Wednesday after she returned from injury to feature as a substitute against Everton, but even the England international’s presence may not be enough to save the Gunners from a defeat.

Bayern have only last one of their last 17 home Champions League games, winning 13 of those games, and are likely to stretch their WSL opponents beyond breaking point.

The German champions have threats everywhere in the likes of Lea Schuller, Klara Buhl and England’s Georgie Stanway, the latter having scored three times already this season.

Bayern could well have too much for Arsenal and a reasonable option on football betting sites could be to pair the home win with two or more goals in the match.

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