Arsenal Champions League Campaign ‘Going Nowhere’

A Thomas Muller brace and strikes from David Alaba and Arjen Robben, who scored within a minute of coming off the bench, proved more than enough to beat an abject Arsenal side who pulled one back courtesy of a superb Olivier Giroud volley.

The defeat is Arsenal’s joint-heaviest in the Champions League, and is the first time they have conceded five goals in the competition.

That’s because Olympiakos scored a dramatic late victor to beat Dinamo 2-1 in Greece with Felipe Pardo scoring both goals to move it to nine points – six clear of Arsenal.

Arsenal will need to win their next two matches against Olympiacos and Dinamo Zagreb, whilst hoping the former are beaten by Bayern Munich later this month.

However, speaking at a news conference prior to Bayern’s Bundesliga clash against Stuttgart on Saturday, Guardiola said the display against Arsenal was not quite a Champions League-winning performance.

“You have to give credit to Bayern for their quality, but we made life easy for them and we were extremely poor defensively”.

Arsenal captain and defender Per Mertesacker has said it is not over for the London club despite losing 5-1 to Bayern Munich at the Allinaz Arena. We still have a chance. But “our chances are very minimal”.

Wenger insisted that Wednesday’s setback will not shatter his players’ confidence ahead of Sunday’s north London derby at home to Tottenham Hotspur.

Arsenal are bottom of Group F and are facing the prospect of not qualifying for the last 16 for the first time in 13 seasons.

Mourinho looked like a dead man walking when Dynamo’s Aleksandar Dragovic cancelled out his earlier own goal in the closing stages on Wednesday’s Champions League tie.

“It’s a small chance but it is a real one”.

“Everything is possible. We have two games to play, we have to regroup and continue fighting until the last minute”, Cech added. “But we have to realise that with that kind of performance our chances are at a minimum”.

Bayern Munich head coach Pep Guardiola has warned his players they are not yet at the level required to produce a successful Champions League campaign, saying they only played well for 35 minutes of their thumping 5-1 win over Arsenal. Olympiacos have to lose here, we have to beat Zagreb and then we will see when we play Olympiacos away.

Given their form in the tournament so far, the chances of Arsenal reaching the last 16 for the 16th consecutive season seem remote.