Page 8 - Arsenal

It was a do-or-die moment for Arsenal, as the English football club prepared to face off against Bayern Munich in the Champions League group stage on Tuesday afternoon. The Gunners lost their first two matches in Group F, beaten by Greece's Olympiacos and Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb in fixtures they should have won. The losses left the team in a rough place, as they prepared to face their group's most fearsome opponent. They had two choices: win the game and stay in the mix for a possible round of 16 advancement or lose and fall irretrievably behind in Group F. Ultimately, and against all odds, Arsenal chose the former as Bayern Munich suffer surprise loss after a flawless season so far.

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A Defensive Battle

By most measures, Bayern Munich had the better game. Arsenal

Guest Post By Karl Matchett

Arsenal overcame the odds to inflict a first defeat on Bayern Munich since August in the Champions League on Tuesday night, winning 2-0 at the Emirates to keep their slim hopes of making the knock-out stage alive.

While the Gunners' first points of the group stage are obviously welcome and certainly merited on the night, it would be a mistake for Arsene Wenger-or indeed any of the fans-to think this is anything but a single step in the right direction. Redemption is not yet assured and the team still have plenty of suffering to do, plenty of anxious moments ahead, if they are to reach the last 16 of Europe's top competition.

The early mistakes made by Wenger and his players in the first two matches, against Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos, were hugely costly. Playing David Ospina instead

At the end of September, after Arsenal lost their second Champions League match of the fall and tumbled to last place in the group, club manager Arsene Wenger blamed the physical demands of the English Premier League for his squad's unsatisfying performances. Arsenal had originally been expected to flourish at this year's Champions League, following a strong 2014 2015 season. But losses against teams they should have beaten in the group stage-Romania's Dinamo Zagreb and Greece's Olympiacos-have left fans scratching their heads.

So why did Arsenal, a dependably solid football club in the most competitive football league in the world-lose to two relatively minor soccer teams in the Champions League? Because of the competitive nature of the Champions League, Wenger argued. The Arsenal manager reasoned that, while both Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos were able to prepare for mid-week Champions League by taking it easy and coasting to wins in their domestic games, Arsenal

So far in the 2015 2016 Capital One Cup (also known as the Football League Cup), we haven't seen a ton of big surprises. The first two rounds of the tournament went more or less as expected, with all of the biggest soccer clubs (Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, etc.) making it to round three intact. However, the Capital One Cup third round matches, played on September 22^nd and 23^rd, brought arguably the first big development of the tournament so far the elimination of Tottenham Hotspur.

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Tottenham Make an Early Exit

Tottenham Hotspur, of course, were one of the most successful soccer clubs in the Capital One Cup last year. Spurs went all the way to the finals, beating teams like Nottingham Forest, Brighton & Hove Albion, Newcastle United,

Two games into the Champions League group stage, Bayern Munich are potential tournament frontrunners. That's not just because they've performed well, either, though they certainly have. The Bavarians clinched their second UCL win of the fall on Tuesday, September 29^th, crushing Dinamo Zagreb in a peerless 5-0 master class. In addition to their strong play in Champions League 2015 - 2016 Group F, Bayern Munich could benefit from the fact that Barcelona, the reigning UCL champs, will be playing without Lionel Messi for the next two months.

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Assessing the Other Prospects

Four of the last five Champions League titles were won by either FC Barcelona (2015 and 2011), Real Madrid (2014), or Bayern Munich (2013). The fifth belongs to Chelsea, who won the UEFA tournament back in 2010.

Of those four clubs, both Chelsea

Just when we were all starting to wonder whether or not Man Utd might have what it takes to reclaim the Premier League title in 2016, Arsenal dominate against Manchester United to complicate matters significantly. The Gunners defeated the Red Devils 3-0 in Sunday's biggest Premier League showdown. The win put Arsenal in second place and dropped United from first to third. Manchester City, meanwhile, who United replaced at the top of the table just last weekend, reclaimed the top spot thanks to a massive 6-1 victory against Newcastle.

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Arsenal's Surprising Dominance

Though Arsenal had the home field advantage in their Sunday, October 4^th match against Manchester United, many soccer analysts expected the Red Devils to dominate. Louis van Gaal's

Last weekend's Chelsea V Arsenal 2015 fixture was expected to be one of the highlights of the EPL season. Before we review the game let's rewind a bit. A week ago, following the Chelsea football club's 1-3 loss against Everton, club manager Jose Mourinho noted that his team was suffering from a severe spot of bad luck. He had a point: other than an August 23^rd victory against West Bromwich Albion, the Blues hadn't won a Premier League match all year. Worse, their winless streak reached all the way back to the end of July, suggesting that the reigning English title holders may have just lost their mojo over the summer months.

Then, something weird happened: Chelsea's luck turned.

Indeed, Mourinho's comment

There was a point not too long ago when soccer fans around England (and indeed, globally) were speculating about whether or not Arsenal might have a chance to contend for the 2015 2016 Premier League title. At this point, The Gunners haven't won the English Premier League since the 2003 2004 season, but a successful run in 2014 2015 (including a third-place EPL finish and titles in both the FA Cup and the FA Community Shield) showed that the wearers of the Arsenal home shirt 2015 2016 might finally be ready to claim the spot at the zenith of English football. But has Arsenal's non-existent summer transfer activity put paid to those hopes already?

Now, after a solid but unremarkable season start (Arsenal went two wins, one draw, and one loss in the first month of EPL competition), it looks like the Gunners might have to wait for another year to make a play at the league's top spot. That feeling is only emphasized further by the fact that manager Arsene Wenger did next to nothing during

In a world where football club managers are often blamed for their team's every failure, it's uncommon for one person to stay at the head of a club for more than five years. It's even more rare for a coach to stick around for a whole decade, and managers who last for longer than that are in a truly rarified air. Two recent examples spring to mind Arsene Wenger 19 years at Arsenal, and of course, Alex Ferguson. Alex Ferguson was the man behind much of Manchester United's Premier League success over the past two decades, he coached at the club for 27 and a half years, from November 1986 to May 2013.

Then there's Arsene Wenger, who has been at the helm of Arsenal football club for 19 years and counting. Next fall, on September 30, 2016, he will celebrate two decades with the team-presuming he's still in his current position after the 2015 2016 season. Based on Wenger's consistent, sure-handed management record since taking over as coach for the Gunners, there's little reason to expect

We preview the upcoming Arsenal V Liverpool 2015 fixture. As a general rule, the Premier League seems to avoid showcasing any major matchups in the first week or two of competition. The logic behind this practice is clear, since everyone is going to be paying attention during week one, and it makes more sense to save the big matches of the football season-like a Manchester City vs. Manchester United derby, for instance-for later weeks, to keep the excitement at a fever pitch.

This year was no different in regards to that rule, with the biggest fixture of week one probably being the matchup between Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur-teams that finished fourth and fifth, respectively, on the 2014 2015 Premier League table. Things