Fortress Allianz Arena & Kane in top form: Bayern’s trump cards against Arsenal

FC Bayern welcome Arsenal to the Allianz Arena on Wednesday evening (21.00 CEST)  for Matchday 3 of the Champions League. The Munich side faced the Gunners in the league phase last season too – and, after five consecutive matches against them without defeat (four wins), suffered a 3–1 defeat at the hands of Mikel Arteta’s team in London. Now, FCB are out for revenge on their home turf, and as our analysis of the facts shows, the prospects of that are pretty good.

Of the seven home games against the Gunners to date, the Munich men have lost just one and come away as winners on five occasions. The record champions have won all three of their most recent encounters in Munich – including two by a margin of at least four goals.

Overall, too, the head-to-head stats favour the Bavarians. In 15 Champions League meetings, FCB have won eight of them, three have ended in a draw and Arsenal have won four times. This means the London side have lost 53 per cent of their matches against FCB – of all the opponents the Gunners have faced five times or more in major European competition, they have a higher loss rate only against Barcelona (67 per cent – six defeats from nine matches).

The league phase of the Champions League and Munich’s Allianz Arena – from FC Bayern’s perspective, they’re a perfect match: since a 3–2 defeat to Manchester City in December 2013, the German record champions have not lost a home fixture in the Champions League group stage/league phase. Of the 39 home games at that stage of the competition during this period, they've won 37 (with two draws) – most recently, they've even recorded nine consecutive home wins.

However, their opponents Arsenal have also been in outstanding form in the early stages of the competition recently and have won all of their last 14 Champions League group stage/league phase encounters. They last dropped points in November 2024, when they lost 1–0 away to Inter Milan.

Harry Kane represented Arsenal at youth level and has also proved to be a prolific scorer against his former club: the Bayern striker has racked up 15 goals in 22 competitive outings against the Gunners during his career – Leicester City (20 goals in 20 games) and Everton (16 goals in 17 games) are the only clubs he's scored more often against.

Given his current form, Kane is likely to cause the London side some concern. FC Bayern’s number nine most recently impressed in the 3–3 draw in Stavanger on the last matchday, when the England captain sparked a comeback with a brace after the break. The striker has now scored in nine consecutive Champions League matches – a feat previously achieved in this competition only by Robert Lewandowski, Cristiano Ronaldo and Ruud van Nistelrooy. He's also scored twice for FC Bayern in the Champions League on nine occasions – a record surpassed only by Robert Lewandowski, who managed this feat no fewer than 17 times during his time in Munich.

Further facts on the clash against Arsenal

No goals conceded – Arsenal have won both of their league phase matches so far without conceding a single goal. Their 1–0 win at Napoli was followed by a 3–0 victory over Lille. Last season, the London side’s defence even went the first four league phase games without conceding, before Lennart Karl breached their defences in their clash with Bayern.

66.4 per cent possession – After the first two matchdays, FC Bayern have the second-highest possession stats of any team. Only Barcelona boast a higher percentage.

44 shot assists – Michael Olise has recorded the most shot assists of any player in the Champions League since the start of last season. He's suspended for the match against the Gunners, however.

Eight games unbeaten – Bayern have lost just one of their last 31 home matches in the Champions League and, since that 2–1 defeat to Inter Milan in April 2024, have recorded seven wins and one draw on their own turf in the competition.

162 appearances – Manuel Neuer needs just one more competitive appearance to draw level with Thomas Müller as the German player with the most Champions League appearances. The goalkeeper is currently on 162 Champions League appearances; Müller made 163.

Bayern are still on a high after thrashing Leipzig at the weekend: