Arsenal: Counter-attack was Gunners' plan against Bayern Munich from the outset

Arsenal midfielder Francis Coquelin was appreciative of the Gunners' desire to cede possession and hit on the break, which earned them their first home win over Bayern Munich in three attempts over the last four years. The win takes them level on points with Dinamo Zagreb, who lost to Olympiacos in the other group game, and rekindled Arsenal's hopes of scraping their way into the knockout stages.

Olivier Giroud scored the opening goal for the north London club from a Santi Cazorla corner which was misjudged by Manuel Neuer. The second goal was down to a brilliant bit of skill from Hector Bellerin, who darted through the Bayern defence and laid a delectable pass for Mesut Ozil, who made no mistake to slot the ball in the back of the net.

Bayern had the majority of the possession as the Gunners rode their luck at times, with Petr Cech making a few crucial saves to deny the Bavarians from taking the lead. The performance was reminiscent of their tactics against Manchester City earlier in the year when they had less than 40% possession in the entire game but came out trumps with two set-piece goals to bring them back in contention for a top four spot.

Coquelin believes that against big teams this is the way to go forward as it has been delivering regular results for the club in 2015. "We knew Bayern would have a lot of the ball, but in the recent games against the big teams we have not had as much possession and counter-attacked. It worked well again here and everyone defended really well and we didn't concede any goals, so I am really pleased with the performance," Coquelin told Arsenal's official website.

The Gunners, however, lost Aaron Ramsey to a hamstring injury while Alexis Sanchez is also feeling the pace, having played in each of Arsenal's games including for Chile in the 2018 World Cup qualifiers against Brazil and Peru. The forward, who has six goals in his last three Premier League games, may be rested against Everton, who the Gunners host on 24 October.