Arsenal target Champions League quarters at expense of Leverkusen | OneFootball

Arsenal seek a winning goal against Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 clash at the Emirates Stadium to reach a third quarter final in as many seasons.

Kai Havertz converted a late penalty to deny his former club victory in the reverse fixture, which they had led from the first minute of the second half when Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich beat them at their own game with a powerful header from a corner.

The Premier League leaders took a huge step towards the title with a 2-0 win against Everton last time out, with 16-year-old sensation Max Dowman dealing the killer blow, while Leverkusen head into the second leg with one victory in seven in all competitions.

It’s been a season to remember for the Gunners, who reached the 70 point mark at the weekend and went nine points ahead of chasers Manchester City and were boosted by Pep Guardiola’s side drawing against West Ham at the London Stadium.

Arsenal fell at the penultimate hurdle in last year’s competition, being knocked out at the semi-final stage 3-1 on aggregate by Paris Saint Germain – losing the home leg 1-0 courtesy of Ballon d’Or winner Ousmane Dembélé.

While they remain favourites for the tournament in 2025/26, manager Mikel Arteta will be forced into shifting his players, with several first-team regulars missing out on a pivotal tie in the story of potentially their best seas

Arteta boosted by Saliba return but absences persist

In his pre-match press conference earlier today, Arteta confirmed both Martin Odegaard, who has been missing since his cameo in the North London Derby after a knee injury against Brentford, and Jurrien Timber are both out for the tie.

While Christian Mosquera is available to provide cover on the right side of defense, with William Saliba having recovered from his own injury and featured in the round of 16 first leg at the BayArena, Timber is a big loss in defense regardless.

Timber’s rating of 7.26 is the second highest out of the defenders that started against Everton on Fotmob, contributing at both ends of the pitch throughout the campaign after registering three goals and five assists in 28 starts for the Gunners.

As the season approaches its business end, it will be even more important for Arteta to conserve his players’ fitness wherever he can, but it’s a tall order prioritizing either a first Premier League title since 2003 or a first ever Champions League win.

Will “very rare” Dowman feature again?

After becoming the youngest ever player to score in a Premier League game on his return from a few months spent recovering from an ankle injury, Max Dowman has made a solid case to feature on the biggest stage in club football.

It seemed as though David Moyes’ team would grind out the draw, before his pin-point delivery into the box allowing for Viktor Gyökores to steer the cut back at the far post into the net, to send the Emirates Stadium into raptures.

Noni Madueke and Bukayo Saka are the obvious choices for Arteta, and who he will likely opt for from the start. But there’s little stopping another Dowman cameo on the level of his performance against Everton. Saka is starting to prove his worth out wide just as much as in the number 10 position, providing ample space for Dowmna, also a left footer, to operate in the same inside forward role.

Arteta heaped praise on the youngster, describing his contributions as very unlikely to see.

He said: “To do what he did in such a moment is very rare to see. Impossible almost. But he’s done it and what happened a few days ago is not relevant any more – it is about the next one.

“When the team needs help – in any way we can contribute, give them energy – we have to be there. We noticed immediately that the atmosphere changed and the players changed, and we managed to win the game.”

If anything, it may prove to be a positive sign for the home supporters if Dowman isn’t introduced until the late stages of the game, should the Gunners already be over the line before he’s called off the bench.

Leverkusen may look to strike from set pieces again

There must have been a real sense of irony on the Gunners’ bench as Andrich headed in what he thought might have won Bayer Leverkusen the game, until Havertz denied his former employers a stunning victory, from a corner.

Arsenal set themselves up to dominate every game and will aim to do just that again at the Emirates on Tuesday, and Leverkusen’s only real opportunities to strike may well come from beating Arteta’s side at their own game once again.

The German side’s run over the past seven games won’t aid their confidence before facing the team anticipated to go the distance in the Champions League, winning just one match in seven and occupying sixth place in the Bundesliga – a shadow of their Invincibles’ achievement in 2023-24 under former boss Xabi Alonso.

Kasper Hjulmand will be pleased that wing-back Alex Grimaldo will return following the suspension that ruled him out of last weekend’s draw with Bayern Munich, but he too is faced with an unhelpful injury situation.

Former Brentford goalkeeper Mark Flekken, Loic Bade, Arthur, Lucas Vazquez, and Eliesse Ben Seghir are all expected to remain absent for Die Werkself, but talents including seven-goal strong Patrick Schick are still set to play. The opportunity to cause a major upset to underpin Arsenal’s past struggles seeing their ambitions of silverware through to the end is there for Leverkusen’s taking.