Arsenal 3 Bayern Munich 1: Mikel Arteta’s winning machine marches on – The Athletic – The New York Times

Champions
League Drama
Gabriel Martinelli and Arsenal celebrate their third goal against Bayern Munich Stuart MacFarlane
Declan Rice took the captain’s armband after Bukayo Saka was substituted, charged down a loose ball and seconds later Arsenal were ahead through Noni Madueke in the 69th minute.
Gabriel Martinelli then made it 3-1 seven minutes later, with Bayern Munich cut apart by a through ball and the substitute doing the rest.
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Winning, it seems, is becoming a habit for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Arsenal struck first through a set piece (naturally), when Saka’s first assist of the season — a menacing corner — was glanced into the net by Jurrien Timber in the 22nd minute.
But while Arsenal have their own share of ‘wunderkinds’, it was 17-year-old Lennart Karl who shone in the first half, equalising in the 32nd minute after a beautiful 24-pass move from Bayern.
Leandro Trossard departed in the first half after appearing to suffer discomfort in his left calf and Miles Lewis-Skelly had a tricky evening in front of England manager Thomas Tuchel but, when they needed to, the Premier League leaders simply seemed to go up a gear as Bayern left the Emirates beaten for the first time this season.

Amy Lawrence, Seb Stafford-Bloor and Liam Tharme discuss the key talking points...
Who knows how long Arsenal can sustain this high-energy hunger? The collective will that courses through this team this season is certainly powerful. They are in that special zone in sport where the wind is in their sails and it feels like they will flow forever. That’s impossible. But the longer they keep this going, the higher their confidence and the greater their chances of the rewards they crave.
It took a while for Arsenal to find their fire. Maybe that’s easily explained by the relative lack of jeopardy — mostly because of the nature of the league system for qualification and partly because this fixture sat in between two critical London derbies with every point on the line in the quest for the Premier League title.
But Arteta wants his team to be a winning machine. He demands that they look to take the initiative at the right time and wrestle results any which way.
They got themselves in front with an excellent set piece. It is hard to believe it was Saka’s first assist of the season but the devilish whip on his corner was perfect and Timber demonstrated his ability to leap and attack the ball with a precise glance.
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Bayern targeted the changes Arsenal made to the left side of their defence and profited with a fine equaliser.
But Arsenal turned up the tempo in the second half and were too much for their illustrious opponents. A stream of corners were oh-so-close. The entire team wanted to dominate more, to press higher up the pitch more, to get at Bayern more, until two substitutes came on to turn the screw. Madueke and Martinelli gave their team another gear, and a handsome win.
Amy Lawrence
Bayern’s equaliser was a masterpiece, but it was familiar — albeit with a twist.
One of the automatisms built into Vincent Kompany’s football involves Joshua Kimmich dropping deep between his centre-halves and drilling a long diagonal to the right touchline. You see it again and again in the Bundesliga and it’s designed to isolate Michael Olise against a full-back.
Naturally, Arsenal would have prepared for it. Clever, then, for Kimmich to find Serge Gnabry instead with a much more vertical pass — quarterback to streaking wide receiver, if you will — who then cutback for Karl to score one of the finest goals of the Champions League season so far.
This is an area where Bayern have really improved under Kompany. Kimmich was previously used as a right-back by Tuchel, which took Kimmich's passing range away from the middle of the pitch and made it far easier to subdue. But in central positions, with that range of attacking players ahead of him, he’s capable of creating chances almost from nothing; even when they are unable to build pressure.
And that was the story of the first half: all of Bayern’s best football occurred in the middle third of the pitch, far away from David Rayas’ goal. The visitors created almost nothing and spent no time at all in the attacking third. The quality of Kimmich’s vision and the accuracy of Gnabry’s cushioned volley made it irrelevant, though, and brought Bayern level despite them not playing well.
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Karl’s overall performance was wonderful. Outside of Bayern’s defeat, he was remarkably bold for a player with fewer than 400 Bundesliga minutes to his name, and caused Arsenal issues whenever he drove forward in possession.
Last weekend, Lothar Matthaus — the legendary former Bayern and Germany midfielder — said on Sky Deutschland that Karl should already be playing for the national team and that his age and inexperience is irrelevant.
On this evidence, Matthaus may well be right. Karl is a rare talent indeed.
Seb Stafford-Bloor
Not another one. Not Leandro Trossard. Such thoughts must have rolled around inside Arteta’s head when one of his most dependable performers this season departed in the first half with his sock pulled down and shin pad eased away to relieve some of the pressure on his calf muscle.
If there is any consolation to such a sight, it is that players are returning bit by bit to help Arsenal’s forward line. Madueke started on the left wing and then switched over to the right to give Saka a breather after spending most of the game with a rash otherwise called Konrad Laimer all over him. The new signing from Chelsea was overjoyed to career into the heart of the penalty area to meet Calafiori’s cross with a punched shot into the ground to put Arsenal in front. He screamed at the heavens, a man so eager to make his imprint at his new home.
Gabriel Martinelli reappeared after several weeks out to bring his brand of dynamism and threat, which was another welcome sight. The Emirates gasped as he burst forwards with that inevitability he carries when one-on-one with a goalkeeper from distance. He dinked his way past Manuel Neuer to steer into a vacated net.
Martin Odegaard also got back on the pitch, and more attackers are working hard to rejoin the team, with Viktor Gyokeres and Gabriel Jesus aiming to be back very soon. It signals a new dimension for Arsenal’s ambitions.
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Amy Lawrence
The Saka and Timber right-side partnership is quickly becoming the strongest part of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal side.
The right-back popped up with another headed goal, flicking on Saka’s inswinging corner, to break the deadlock.
That had been needed because of Bayern’s strong defensive shape, and commitment to pressing man-to-man when David Raya had possession.
Consequently, No 9 Mikel Merino (much like Harry Kane for Bayern) kept dropping deep, to drag a centre-back with him and offer Raya another option.
Timber kept pushing upfield to balance things, playing close to Saka, who was often targeted by long passes from the goalkeeper.
While these did not always stick, they did prevent Bayern from making high turnovers, and allowed Arsenal to challenge for second balls, and sustain possession upfield — gaining a foothold in a first half where Bayern had 62 per cent of the ball.
Timber, who won all three of his aerial duels and three of his ground duels, showcased the kind of defensive solidity which has made him a mainstay this term, making his 18th appearance (15th start) of the campaign.
Liam Tharme
It was not a good night for Manuel Neuer, who was culpable for the first Arsenal goal and caught out ludicrously for the third.
Neuer has spent a career playing yards outside of his penalty box, but the decision that left him stranded on the halfway line, with Martinelli running away to score, was a poor one and it ended the game as a contest.
And there is a bigger issue here. There are many who want Neuer to come out of international retirement for the World Cup, with Marc-Andre ter Stegen injured and Hoffenheim’s Oliver Baumann the current first choice for Julian Nagelsmann’s Germany.
But these moments are harming that argument. He will turn 40 next March and he cannot play like he did when he was 30 anymore.
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Neuer’s vulnerability at set pieces damages that candidacy further. He was beaten from corners twice on Saturday, against Freiburg, twice again from set pieces versus Union Berlin before the international break and looked vulnerable whenever Arsenal targeted him this evening.
Yes, Arsenal are masters of the dead ball, but that’s a well-established strength and Neuer did not respond to it well, or in a way that gave his defenders — uncharacteristically shaky all evening — the confidence they needed.
Seb Stafford-Bloor
Declan Rice told TNT Sports: “If you look at Bayern Munich this season they've been the best team in Europe.... It was probably the toughest game tactically we've been in this season — the way they drag you around. The way they're working is tip-tip. When they drop you deep it's so hard to pick up references across the pitch, to get up man to man, because they're just rotating constantly. The second half we got that right... it was an all-round great performance because it was Bayern Munich."
Serge Gnabry to DAZN DE: “You have to accept that you lose sometimes. Arsenal are a very strong opponent; they haven't won all their (Champions League) games so far for nothing. They had a period where they pressed us back with a lot of corner kicks. We didn't manage to do much in the second half.”
Mikel Arteta told TNT Sports: "We had to raise standards (against Bayern Munich, who were undefeated this season before facing Arsenal), we knew that, and I think individually we were exceptional. Hopefully it will bring  more confidence and trust to the players."
Arsenal: Sunday, November 30 — Chelsea (away), Premier League, 4.30pm UK, 11.30am ET
Bayern Munich: Saturday, November 29 — St. Pauli (home), Bundesliga, 2.30pm UK, 9.30am ET
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