Arsenal meet Bayer Leverkusen in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie in 2025-26 UEFA Champions League.
With the tie locked at 1-1 on aggregate after the first leg, victory would see Arsenal or Bayer Leverkusen advance to the Quarter-Finals.
Extra time and potentially penalties however will be required if still level on aggregate after regulatory time.
Team News
Jurrien Timber is ruled out for Arsenal after he suffered a knock during their 2-0 Premier League victory at home to Everton on Saturday,
Leandro Trossard (knock) could feature but Martin Odegaard (knee) and Mikel Merino (foot) remain absent.
Bayer Leverkusen could be without Aleix Garcia and Martin Terrier due to respective head and ankle injuries, which saw the pair substituted in their 1-1 draw at home to Bayern Munich in Bundesliga.
Alejandro Grimaldo will however return after he missed that game due to a domestic suspension.
Mark Flekken (knee), Loic Bade (hamstring), Arthur (ankle), Eliesse Ben Seghir and Lucas Vazquez (both calf) are ruled out.
When is Kick-Off?
Arsenal host Bayer Leverkusen at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday 17 March at 8pm GMT, live on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Stat Attack
- Arsenal are yet to lose to Bayer Leverkusen in Champions League (W1, D2).
- Bayer Leverkusen lost 4-1 in their only previous Champions League visit to Arsenal in February 2002.
- Gabriel Martinelli has scored in all four of Arsenal’s home matches in this season’s Champions League (W4).
- Bayer Leverkusen have avoided defeat in just 5 of 13 trips to English opposition in all UEFA competitions (W2, D3, L8).
Prediction
For all of their dominance and shots against Everton, Arsenal certainly had to grind it out with two very late goals which probably was frustrating for Mikel Arteta but showed the depth of his squad that his substitutes made the difference ahead of another tricky game.
Bayer Leverkusen meanwhile had a tough domestic game against Bayern Munich yet they can take confidence from having dug in for a draw despite a late winner having been ruled out, as they surely will again be up for another top-quality test in the space of six days.
My instinct therefore is that this could be another slow-burner like the first leg but Arsenal at home should have enough quality to prevail, even if extra time is required.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-1 (AET) Bayer Leverkusen
Result: Arsenal 2-0 Bayer Leverkusen (Arsenal win 3-1 on aggregate)