UEFA Champions League, League Phase Matchday 3 | Allianz Arena, Munich | Wednesday 21 October 2026
Let's get the awkward bit out of the way first: we dropped two points in Munich, and Bukayo Saka limped off after ten minutes. But it was also one of the best games we've played in a long time, and Mikel Arteta spent the post-match laughing at how good both teams were. I'm with him. Let's break it down.
Arteta had close to a full squad, minus the absent Tzolis, Saliba and Hincapié. After their lively cameos at Forest, Timber and Madueke came into the starting XI, and Bruno Guimarães kept his midfield place ahead of Myles Lewis-Skelly.
Bayern were a bit depleted. Musiala was injured, Olise suspended, and Luis Díaz was only fit for the bench. Joshua Kimmich was also absent following the death of his father, and our sympathies go to him.
I'll admit I looked at their line-up and recognised hardly anyone, which gave me a false sense of security. Our record in Bavaria should have cured that. A solitary 2-0 win in 2013 is the only thing to crow about, and even then we went out on away goals.
We started well. Raya was sending long diagonal balls to the right flank in the first seven minutes, a tactic he kept using all night to win territory, compete in the air and pounce on the second ball. Saka muscled Alphonso Davies off the ball and charged down the right, looking sharp.
Then he went down clutching his thigh, and signalled straight away that he had to come off. Eberechi Eze, whose afternoon at the City Ground had ended after an underwhelming 45 minutes, came on down the left, with Madueke switching to the right. More on Saka below.
Arteta had predicted a man-to-man contest and both sides delivered. The sight of Ezri Konsa following Harry Kane almost into the Bayern penalty area summed it up, and Kai Havertz was booked early for a late challenge on Josip Stanišić.
We had more of the ball, but Bayern were dangerous the moment they won it. After an Arsenal corner, with three Bayern players left up-field, Kane launched a quarterback-style pass towards Davies and Gnabry tested Raya with a low shot. It all happened in seconds, and Arteta will have had a word about corners being supposed to threaten their goal, not ours.
0-1, Eze. And then a goal that was beautiful in its simplicity. We recycled possession in midfield, Ødegaard shaped to send Havertz through, paused, then looked up and spotted Eze sprinting behind Konrad Laimer on the left. The pass was perfectly weighted, Eze let it bounce a couple of times, and struck across Neuer with his left foot from almost the edge of the six-yard box.
A valuable point in Munich 👊 Watch highlights from our 2-2 draw with Bayern 👇 https://t.co/CwxTLOsApF
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) October 22, 2026
The flag went up, but replays showed Stanišić was on the near side, playing him on, and VAR confirmed the goal. It was a welcome moment for a player who'd taken plenty of criticism at the weekend, and our fifth goal from a substitute this season. Ødegaard said afterwards:
"It was good timing in the end, and a great finish. I'm really happy for him to get his goal. The way he performed as well was a top performance from him."
1-1, Davies. We had a decent handle on the game, which was obviously the cue for it to go wrong. A Bayern throw-in on their right left Konsa unsure whether to follow Kane into the centre circle. You could see him pointing at the striker, aware of the danger, but nobody else picked him up. Kane received the ball in acres of space, had time to measure his pass, and played it to Davies, who darted inside Timber and finished first time. Europe's best teams don't need you to switch off for long.
The half ended with a flurry of corners that neither side could turn into a goal.
No let-up after the break. Rice's corner found Bruno, whose downward header looked in until Neuer, aged 40, pushed it onto the bar. Replays showed the ball was right on the line when he intervened. At the other end, Raya produced a flying save to deny Upamecano's header, and Eze forced another stop from Neuer.
2-1, Kane (penalty). A cutback found Kane 12 yards out, and Timber, throwing himself across the shot, blocked it with his hand. There wasn't much to argue about, and the referee, to his credit, was impressive throughout. Kane sent Raya the wrong way and put it in the top corner. That's his ninth successful penalty against us. For the next five minutes, Bayern swarmed us.
Both managers then made double changes with 20 minutes remaining, and ours turned it back our way. Havertz and Bruno came off for Gyökeres and Lewis-Skelly, who both made their presence felt. We settled, started keeping the ball again, and patiently looked for a way through.
2-2, Rice. A fine move from left to right: Timber, Eze, Lewis-Skelly and Konsa all involved before Rice laid the ball off to Madueke and surged into the box. He took a deft touch from Gyökeres and hammered a low shot across Neuer. It was Rice's first goal since March, and it makes you wonder whether we could arrange for him to be in the box a bit more often.
Rice later said:
"When you play against Bayern, a team that goes man-to-man over the whole pitch and follows you everywhere, it's such a tough game for 95 minutes, and you have to apply certain principles and concepts, and you're constantly thinking about where you can move into the space."
Arteta sent on Mikel Merino late in search of a winner, but the tempo dropped, helped by Díaz going off injured only 20 minutes after coming on. Timber had one more rasping effort that Neuer tipped over, and a draw felt fair.
One data point from the source I was working with: after Eze replaced Saka, Arsenal's share of dangerous attacks went from 100% before to 67% after (the earlier figure was from a very short spell). After Gyökeres and Lewis-Skelly replaced Havertz and Bruno, our share rose from 25% to 58%. That's a clear swing in our favour from the bench.
🚨Mikel Arteta assessment of the team after the final whistle at Munich That’s one of the highest levels that we’ve played. Two teams that wanted to press each other constantly, two teams that wanted to attack score and win the game. 🎥 @footballontnt https://t.co/zbP9xQYnSY
— AREMU ADE (@ishaq30) October 22, 2026
Arteta, immediately afterwards:
"Wow, what a game, that's the level. That's one of the highest levels that we played. The level of the opposition, what the game required, and our level as well. Two teams that want to press each other constantly, two teams that want to attack, that want to play. I think it was a fascinating game."
And later, with a bit more edge:
"We'll take the draw, but it doesn't mean we're really happy about it because we prepared a team to win the game."
A Different Kind of Game
It does help when the other team wants to play. In the Premier League we spend a lot of time prising apart a low block. Here both sides pressed, attacked and took risks, and the spectacle benefited. If this performance, if not the result, quietens a bit of the tiresome discussion about our style of play, good. As Ben White once said, "Obviously, we're quite good at football."
The obvious downside. Saka looked thoroughly unhappy as he limped off, and Arteta acknowledged the medical team's concern:
"They are a bit concerned. A player that has to come off with a really sharp pain is never good news."
He was still limping on the way to the team bus. We'll have to wait for a proper assessment before we know how long he's out. There are plenty of numbers flying around on social media, but I'd ignore all of them until the club says something. I looked for an official update and found nothing reliable yet, so I haven't included any timeframe here.
Seven points from nine, and Arsenal remain in the automatic qualification places after three games. Wins over Slavia Prague and Borussia Dortmund in November would help consolidate that.
A draw away at Bayern, with two goals scored and a few chances to win it, is no disaster. The worry is Saka. The rest was a pleasure.
COYG.
