So… the pariahs of the Premier League, the ones killing football, the team that must be chastised for their style of play at all costs, went to Germany, played the German Champions, and lived out a thrilling 90 minutes in the Allianz Arena.

Interesting, interesting…

Of course I’m being flippant, probably a little too ‘paranoid Arsenal fan’ as the rest of the league and rival fans like to paint us, but after the heat that Arteta and his players took on Sunday for their…*checks notes*…win against a Forest side designed to not concede goals and be defensively resolute, we found ourselves up against an opponent who had no such intention. And that’s what happens when Arsenal get to play against teams who want to play football. Because we can too. Bayern may have been a couple of players short in attack (for which so were Arsenal after losing Saka on nine minutes and with Tzolis still on the sidelines) and Kimmich missing due to the sad passing of his father, but this is still a team that basically never loses at home. They have been averaging six goals a game in the German Bundesliga, and they have the kind of muscle memory on their own patch that was always going to make this an incredibly tough match.

Annoyingly as well, Harry Kane was deciding to have an absolute blinder, although I have to begrudgingly admit that this is probably just his game, and that he probably is just that good. He’s scored a monstrous amount of goals in an admittedly poorer league than the Premier League, but doing it in the Champions League is something he’s been able to do, and he was, of course, going to score his customary penalty against us. I think we can’t have too many complaints about it, but I literally tweeted nine minutes before Bayern got it that I wondered when he’d get his standard penalty against us. “59 minutes,” came the replay from somebody. That’s eight out of his 15 against us, and whilst in the early days he’d scored for fun against our beleaguered back-end-of-the-banter-era back line, since Mikel has been in charge, Kane has not had too many chances, and seems to only really score when he’s able to put the ball on the spot.

He did play quite well overall, just not really as a centre forward, and I think his passing range being so good last night probably also had a bit to do with how we weren’t 100% sure whether our centre backs should follow him all over the pitch or not. I remember when I was playing five-a-side years ago, with my brother, uncle, and cousin as part of the team. My brother was the best player in the team, and in one game the opponents realised this. So they put just one guy on him, and his whole game was just to man-mark Steve. After about 10 minutes, Steve realised this, so he just stood right on the corner of the pitch and didn’t move, effectively making it a four-v-four situation. Aside from the fact that this was quite amusing to us all, it did feel like at times, we did that with Kane and Konsa, who at times tracked him deep into Bayern’s half. And whilst I don’t think Steven Gerrard is an amazing pundit, he did pick up in commentary that it resulted in the chance Upemecano got when he marauded forward, played the ball out wide, and then had the headed chance on goal at 1-1.

I’m halfway through today’s post, and I still haven’t really spoken of any of the goals other than the Kane penalty, which I think shows how compelling a football match this was. And it was. Two of the best teams in this competition going head-to-head, giving the other problems, tactical nuances and switch-ups that both sides couldn’t deal with, then could, then back to the other side to figure out what the opponent was doing and shift their approach. I thought we had the better of the first half, deservedly went ahead through a fine finish from Eze, then got undone by a great pass by Kane and a smart finish from the incredibly rapid Alphonso Davies. Bayern had more of the second half, I thought, and whilst their penalty was annoying to put them in front, they were probably just edging it at that stage. And then there was a period in which we seemed to be able to not deal with them; we had to do a bit more defending than we’d probably have liked being a goal down, but steadied the ship and started to get into the game. And the fantastic move that Rice put away to give us our point was brilliant on a number of counts. Firstly, it was aesthetically pleasing, but secondly, there were a few players in the build-up who need to take their flowers. I thought Noni’s quick one-two touch and pass with Timber and then on to Gyokeres was great; the Swede held off his man well, then played a great ball right into Rice’s path to put him in. His finish was one that looked like a guy who regularly puts away 20-a-season, and as he wheeled away, I couldn’t help but think it was fair for the game.

The only real sour note of the evening was Saka going off with what feels like a quad injury. It’s desperately unlucky and if that’s a period of time on the sidelines now for a few months, it’s the third potential big injury in three seasons. Not only is that horrible for him, it is also for us, because with Tzolis still out, we suddenly look quite bare on the flanks. Noni will no doubt get himself some game time on the right, and I wonder if this means we start to see a bit more of Max from the bench, but both Madueke and Eze need to step up now. I think both did last night. Eze definitely had his best game this season; he was able to keep Laimer on his toes all evening, plus he got a very smart goal to put us ahead. If we see a performance like that on Saturday against Everton, I don’t think there will be many complaints at all.

And we can’t complain about this result. That’s seven points out of a possible nine. Over the last two seasons, the aim is to get more than 16 points (as that’s secured eighth in both seasons and safe passage straight to the round of 16), which means that we’ve got to hit just three more wins minimum out of our next five games. We play Slavia Praha away next, before then facing off at home against Dortmund and then Real Madrid. I think win the Slavia game and we can start to look at whether we can go for the top spots again.

That’ll do for today, I think. More tomorrow as we have the quick turnaround with a home game against Everton at that rarest of things: A 3pm kick-off. See you tomorrow.