Arsenal found out their Champions League fate yesterday after their hard fought win against Besiktas on Wednesday night. Arsenal were drawn against Borussia Dortmund, Galatasaray and Anderlecht. Arsenal will be familiar with Dortmund having played them in the group stages last year and also Galatasaray, as they also played them in the Champions League. Anderlecht will be something of an unknown quantity for Arsene Wenger’s charges.
The toughest game facing Arsenal will surely be against Jürgen Klopp’s Borussia Dortmund as they are a very solid team which contains some world class players such as Marco Reus and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who are going to cause Arsenal a few problems with their rapid pace. Signal Iduna Park in Dortmund will not be an easy place to go as Die Schwarzgelben’s fans will create an intense atmosphere in the famous wall section of the grand old stadium in the Ruhr region of Germany. The games against Dortmund will be all out tactical war between Jürgen Klopp and Arsene Wenger so we should expect a fantastic pair of games against Der BVB.
Galatasaray will also prove to be a tough encounter with the likes of Wesley Sneijder and Umut Bulut among the ranks of the Turkish Champions. The Turk Telekom Arena will prove a hostile atmosphere to play in as supporters always come out in huge numbers to support Galatasaray. Galatasaray’s manager is former Italy manger Cesare Prandelli who did well in last season’s Super Lig, finishing second. Burak Yilmaz will be a potent threat.
Anderlecht won the Belgian league last season so they are not to be taken lightly by the Gunners. The main threat for the Belgian side will be forward Matias Suarez, who is a goal threat. Many Arsenal fans will look at this game as a chance to gain three points. The Constant Vanden Stock Arena will be a wall of noise as it is every week in the Jupiler League. Besnik Hasi is the Belgian champion's coach and has only held the position since March so he is a relatively new face.
Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund will surely be bookies' favourites to take the places in the knockout stages from this group but nothing is set in stone in the most famous club competition in the world.