Arsenal vs Bayern Munich 18/07/19

18 July 2019

Arsenal and Bayern Munich will face-off at the Dignity Health Tennis Center in Carson for the opening match of the 2019 International Champions Cup.

The two sides already played against each other in this tournament in 2017, with the Premier League giants edging out the German heavyweights after a penalty shootout. However, the reigning Bundesliga holders have dumped Arsenal out of the Champions League twice for the past four years. Notably, the Bavarians have secured three wins in their last five H2H meetings with Arsenal (W3, D1, L1), with all of those triumphs ending with the same 5-1 scoreline.

The Gunners have already begun their summer campaign, having played out a 3-3 draw with the English lower-league side Boreham Wood before securing a comfortable 3-0 win over the MLS franchize Colorado Rapids. Outstandingly, nine of Arsenal’s last ten matches have featured over 2.5 goals, with seven of them producing four or more goals. Immense problems at the back have seen the North Londoners keep a clean sheet only once in that sequence, allowing over 1.5 match goals six times along the way. Still, Arsenal’s attacking output in that span can encourage Unai Emery (21 goals scored in ten games).

Meanwhile, the Bavarians go into this meeting off the back of a routine 4-2 win over the German lower-league team Lindau, which has seen them stretching their unbeaten run to 14 games (W10, D4). Notably, nine of their wins across that period have seen Niko Kovac’s men bagging three or more goals, although keeping a clean sheet just four times. Also, three of four of those stalemates have ended with the same 1-1 scoreline, with Bayern trailing beyond the hour mark twice. Four of Bayern’s last six matches have produced over 2.5 goals, with five of them featuring goals in both halves.