(4-2-3-1) Ødegaard returns,Kai Havertz decision, Eberechi Eze role”, Predicted Arsenal line up vs Leverkusen as Mikel Arteta drop Zubimendi for the first time
Two Invincibles of the 21st century collide in the last 16 of the 2025-26 Champions League, as Bayer Leverkusen welcome Arsenal to the BayArena for Wednesday’s first leg.
The 2023-24 Bundesliga champions navigated a two-legged playoff with Olympiacos to set up a date with the Gunners, who were the dictionary definition of flawless in the league phase.
Match preview
Always the bridesmaid and never the bride in all forms of continental competition – barring one UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1994 – Arsenal laid down no fewer than eight early markers with eight straight wins in a dominant league-phase campaign.
Mikel Arteta masterminded successes against the likes of Atletico Madrid, long-time nemeses Bayern Munich and 2024-25 runners-up Inter Milan as the Gunners clinched first place unchallenged, with both the best offensive (23 goals scored) and defensive (four goals conceded) in the 36-team league phase.
As the knockout draw was also especially kind to Arsenal – who cannot meet any of Real Madrid, Liverpool, PSG, Bayern or Manchester City before the final – the expectation that 2026 will finally be the year of red and white ribbons on the Champions League trophy is only growing.
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Still in pursuit of a never-before-seen quadruple, Wednesday’s visitors continue to face incessant criticism for their perceived dark arts, statistically-backed time-wasting and well-documented reliance on set-plays, but as long as the wins keep on flooding in, it matters little.
Arsenal trek to Germany on the back of their fourth straight victory in all tournaments, as a second-string side edged out a plucky Mansfield Town outfit 2-1 in the FA Cup, a result that saw the Gunners score 2+ goals away from home for the eighth time in 11 matches.
© Imago / Laci Perenyi
Famously going through an entire league season unbeaten 20 years after Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal Invincibles, a Xabi Alonso and Florian Wirtz-less Bayer Leverkusen have inevitably regressed since ending Bayern’s reign of perpetual Bundesliga dominance.
The less said about the Erik ten Hag disaster the better, but former Denmark head coach Kasper Hjulmand has steadied the domestic and continental ship to take Leverkusen into the last 16 for the second straight season.
Earning an unspectacular 16th-placed finish in the league phase, Leverkusen’s 2-0 win over Olympiacos in the first leg of their playoff away from home put Die Werkself firmly in control of their last-16 destiny, and a goalless draw on their own turf sufficed for progression.
However, that stalemate comprises part of an unsightly streak for Wednesday’s hosts, who have only won one of their last five games across all competitions and were held to an enthralling 3-3 stalemate by Freiburg in their most recent Bundesliga showdown.
Results at the BayArena over the past two months tell a different story, though, as Hjulmand’s men have strung together a six-match unbeaten streak at their headquarters, conceding just one goal in those 540 minutes of football.
Leverkusen also stunted Wenger’s Arsenal in a 1-1 draw in Germany in 2002, but the Gunners have since roared to successive 4-1 victories 22 years apart – one in that same UCL campaign and one in pre-season in 2024.
Bayer Leverkusen Champions League form:
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Bayer Leverkusen form (all competitions):
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Arsenal Champions League form:
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Team News
© Iconsport / PA Images
A surfeit of big-hitters were absent from the Arsenal squad to face Mansfield at the weekend, but four of them – David Raya, Martin Zubimendi, Declan Rice and Gabriel Magalhaes – were merely being rested and should now make immediate returns to the matchday squad.
William Saliba (ankle), Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard (knocks) have all trained too, but Martin Odegaard (knee), Ben White (knock) and Mikel Merino (foot) remain on the sidelines.
Nevertheless, Calafiori was always expected to make way for Leverkusen loanee Piero Hincapie – who is eligible to face his parent club this week – while Saturday’s match-winner Eberechi Eze will return over the stricken Trossard.
Bayer Leverkusen are far from tip-top shape for the first leg either, as Mark Flekken (knee), Loic Bade (hamstring), Arthur (ligament), Lucas Vazquez (calf), Eliesse Ben Seghir (calf) and Nathan Tella (foot) are in the infirmary.
Patrik Schick is on the cusp of recovering from a muscular problem and is expected to be in the squad, but Cameroonian teenage talent Christian Kofane should spearhead the charge instead.
Former Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah – recently linked with a return to Anfield – ought to start as the central centre-back in Leverkusen’s three-man wall, while left wing-back Alejandro Grimaldo provides a devastating dead-ball threat, as demonstrated by his fine free kick in the weekend’s draw with Freiburg.
Bayer Leverkusen possible starting lineup:
Blaswich; Andrich, Quansah, Tapsoba; Poku, Garcia, Fernandez, Grimaldo; Maza, Terrier; Kofane
Arsenal possible starting lineup:
Raya; Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Hincapie; Zubimendi, Rice; Saka, Eze, Martinelli; Gyokeres
