Not even a full week has passed and already the Champions League Round of 16 rematch is here, with Arsenal welcoming Leverkusen at home this time. The first match of the Mikel Arteta's didn't go as expected, but they still took a relatively decent result to London for the rematch. In case anyone didn't know, the first meeting ended in a 1-1 draw. With a bit of exaggeration, it can be said that the Emirates will be starting practically from scratch. If Arsenal want to think about advancing to the next round, they need to perform much better at home than they did in Germany. I believe that this will be the case and that the Gunners will fight their way to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. I have several reasons why I believe in Arsenal and I will focus on all of them in turn in today's blog. There's nothing to wait for, let's do it!
Basic information
| 📅 Date and time | 🏟️ Stadium | ⚽️ Match | 🏆 Competition |
| 17. 3. 2026, 21:00 (CET) | Emirates Stadium | Arsenal vs Bayer Leverkusen | Champions League (Round of 16, 2nd leg) |
Form
Since the last time we measured each other's strength not much has changed for either team. Arsenal reacted to the draw with Leverkusen at the weekend, which broke their four-match winning streak, the best way he could, by winning. On the other hand, Bayer failed to win and tied again, for the third time in a row. It's true that he played against the league leader, but on the other hand he played a power play from the end of the first half and even a double power play in the last few minutes. As always, you can find the highlights of the current form of both teams in the tables below.
Arsenal
| 📈 Current form: 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟢 |
| ⚽️ Results: Arsenal 2:0 Everton (PL), Leverkusen 1:1 Arsenal (CL), Mansfield 1:2 Arsenal (FA Cup), Brighton 0:1 Arsenal (PL), Arsenal 2:1 Chelsea (PL) |
| 🏆 Premier League position: 1st (70 points) |
Bayer Leverkusen
| 📈 Current form: 🟡 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟡 |
| ⚽️ Results: Leverkusen 1:1 Bayern (BL), Leverkusen 1:1 Arsenal (CL), Freiburg 3:3 Leverkusen (BL), Hamburg 0:1 Leverkusen (BL), Leverkusen 1:1 Mainz (BL) |
| 🏆 Bundesliga position: 6th (45 points) |
Team and expected line-up
How Mikel Arteta puts together starting line-up for the return match? Will we see any surprises or will Arsenal players run out onto the Emirates Stadium pitch with the expected line-up? We will look at all the essentials together in the following lines.
Expected line-up
We probably don't even need to talk about who will start in the Arsenal goal, so we can move straight to the defence. The Spanish manager will have to make at least one change in the defensive four. Jurriën Timber had to withdraw from the last league game, and so his place will be taken by Ben White or Cristhian Mosquera. Personally, I think this time Ben White gets priority for two reasons. The first is experience, the second is his interplay with Bukay Saku. Although Riccardo Calafiori played a decent game against Everton, so he's going to the left side of the defence in my opinion, Piero Hincapié will return. There will be no changes in the heart of the defence, so we will see a pair of players in front of Raya William Saliba and Gabriel.
The trio of central midfielders will start in the same line-up as in the last few competitive games (with the exception of the English cups). The most defensive duties will be Martín Zubimendi, Declan Rice will fill the role of box-to-box midfielder and Eberechi Eze will be in charge of the creative component and the offense in general. Any option seems highly unlikely to me.
In the most offensive part of the lineup. Mikel Arteta will really have a lot to choose from. All wing players and all spike forwards should be available for this game. So I've already indirectly revealed that he has rejoined the team Leandro Trossard, who should not be missing from the nomination for Tuesday's game. So who will start in the starting lineup? On the right flank, he has a virtually certain place Bukayo Saka. As I mentioned earlier today, the England international could benefit from the return of Ben White, with whom he has a very good footballing relationship. This is only if White really starts in the starting eleven. On the other side of the pitch, he could get another chance Noni Madueke, who's been playing in decent form lately. Although he started from the first minute against Everton Kai Havertz, he'll be back on top of the offense Viktor Gyökeres.
Absences
They won't play the rematch against Leverkusen Mikel Merino, Martin Ødegaard and Jurriën Timber. The Spanish midfielder is recovering from foot surgery and will spend some time away from football. As far as Martin Ødegaard and Jurriën Timber are concerned, Mikel Arteta said that they will definitely miss the Champions League match. Either way, there is a chance that both of them will be ready for the upcoming EFL Cup final against Manchester City, but more on that next time. No one else should be on the nomination list for Tuesday's Millionaire's Challenge match for health or other reasons.
Opponent
| 🏟️ Stadium: BayArena, Leverkusen (capacity 30 210) |
| 👔 ManagerKasper Hjulmand |
| 🧤GoalkeepersMark Flekken, Janis Blaswich |
| 🛡️ DefendersArthur, Loïc Badé, Alejandro Grimaldo, Tim Oermann, Jarell Quansah, Edmond Tapsoba, Lucas Vázquez |
| 🎯 MidfieldersRobert Andrich, Montrell Culbreath, Ezequiel Fernandez, Aleix Garcia, Jonas Hofmann, Ibrahim Maza, Exequiel Palacios, Axel Tape |
| ⚽️ ForwardsNathan Tella, Malik Tillman, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Christian Kofane, Ernest Poku, Patrik Schick, Martin Terrier |
| 🚑 Injuries: Mark Flekken, Arthur, Lucas Vázquez, Loïc Badé, Eliesse Ben Seghir, Nathan Tella |
Match
Although after the first game between Arsenal and Leverkusen I had the feeling that Mikel Arteta's charges hardly deserved to draw in the match, a look at the match statistics made me wrong. Arsenal were slightly more active and dangerous than their German challenger. But that doesn't change the fact that the Gunners didn't give their best performance in BayArena. A home rematch should be a different story for the north Londoners. Apart from the home advantage, Arsenal players could benefit from the weekend's win against Everton, which undoubtedly injected new blood into their veins.
I don't want to repeat last week's words here, so I'll be a little more brief today. Arsenal will go into the game as the deserved favourites. The quality of the squad was mentioned in the blog before the last game, so I have nothing to add. Furthermore, the Gunners will be able to take advantage of the home environment and good mental state. Unlike Leverkusen who have not won three times in a row. All this should to reflect in the image of the game and the final result. I firmly believe that Arsenal will make it through the rematch and advance past Leverkusen. I predict Arsenal to win 3:1.
Next match
I don't want to write that the next game Arsenal have on the schedule will be even more important than the one against Leverkusen, because we are now talking about the Champions League Round of 16 game. However, the next game on the Gunners' calendar is EFL Cup Final to be played at Wembley on Sunday 22 March 2026 at 17:30 (CET). Arsenal's opponent will be none other than Manchester City.
See you next time, I'll look forward to it!
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Editor, administrator and editor of the True Gunner Diary website, but above all a devoted Arsenal fan. I started with sports articles at the Tipsport bookmaker, where I have published more than 100 blogs. If you want to know more about me, check out the section of the same name here on the site.