3 points tonight.....would help us a lot.

Dortmund will arrive here with their injury stricken team, to steal a point or possibly 3 from us. Our job is to protect the momentum we have going for us since the defeat to Villa. We have to avoid a loss or draw against Dortmund in our home leg. If, tonight we secure 3 points, then it would give us 9 points in total, with three left to play. And a draw at the away leg to Dortmund would see us virtually qualify, with a home leg to Marseille and an away leg to Napoli left.

The 3 points would help us in our domestic campaign too. The away leg to Dortmund is sandwiched between the visit of Liverpool and the trip to Old Trafford.  Hence, if we have secured 9 points by the end of the night, then we can relax a bit for the Dortmund away leg. We can give important players rest and aim at just picking up a point.  We can concentrate at furthering a gap between us and the other teams who would be chasing us for the top spot at the EPL Table. The home leg against Marseille is between the visit of Southampton and the trip to Cardiff. Even if we lose the away leg to Dortmund, the Marseille home leg is scheduled at a perfect time to qualify for the Round of 16. If, we qualify by the time the home leg of Marseille is over, then we can play a B team for the away leg to Napoli and concentrate for the matches against Everton and City, which are before and after the Napoli match respectively.

Hence, I guess if we want our momentum to continue we have to win the match today, and remove the pressure off our back, which will enable us to concentrate on our domestic campaign. I, personally do not want our European schedule to hamper our progress on the domestic front. We have a lot of tough matches coming up and if, we are to prove ourselves as a genuine threat, then we have to destroy Dortmund tonight.

Our main players tonight would be the back four. Mert and Kos have to be at their best and so do our fullbacks. Ramsey should curb his attacking instincts a bit tonight as we have to be wary of not getting caught out by a rapid counterattack from Dortmund. Reus, Aubameyang and Lewandoski are all very effective in Counter attacking teams out of a game.  I want to see Rocisky start today because of his incessant pressing and speed and fluidity, which  would help us dominate Dortmund.  We should concentrate today on our left side of attack as Dortmund has Groskreutz filling in for Pizsczesk ( I hope got the spelling right).  Gibbs and Cazorla could wreak havoc from the left and Rocisky and Ozil can fill the centre and right side of the attack respectively.

I hope tonight would be a great night for Gunners all over the world, and a true test of character. A loss or a draw will not be devastating but would put the team under a lot of pressure on both domestic and European fronts. So if we can finish the job tonight we should.

Come on you Gunners!!!!