Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Notifications can be managed in browser preferences.

Robert Lewandowski: Arsenal face the hottest striker in Europe, but Arsene Wenger has a plan to deal with the Bayern Munich striker

The Poland international looks almost unstoppable right now 

Simon Rice
Tuesday 20 October 2015 11:45 BST
Comments
Robert Lewandowski
Robert Lewandowski (GETTY IMAGES)

Tonight, Arsenal come up against Bayern Munich in the Champions League, but more specifically they face Robert Lewandowski, without doubt the hottest striker in Europe.

The Poland international has been the star player so far this term for a side that are on a 12 match winning streak.

But just how good has he been? With the help of a few stats, we spell out why Arsenal should feel very afraid.

  • Since the opening day of the Bundesliga season, Lewandowski has failed to score in just three matches, a period covering 14 games.
  • He's scored 22 goals this season for club and country. Cristiano Ronaldo has 11 and Arsenal's hottest striker, Alexis Sanchez, has 10.
  • In the recent Bundesliga match with Wolfsburg he scored five goals, a feat made all the more incredible by the fact he only came on a half-time and scored all the goals in a nine minute spell.
  • Lewandowski has scored 12 league goals this season. That's just four less than the entire Arsenal team have managed to score in the Premier League this term, and the Gunners have played a game more. 
  • In the Bundesliga, he has a shot accuracy of 77 per cent. In comparison, Cristiano Ronaldo has 47 per cent, Lionel Messi is at 63 per cent and Arsenal's top scorer this season, Alexis Sanchez, has a shot accuracy of 60 per cent. 

Understandably, Arsene Wenger has been planning on how to counteract the Bayern Munich striker.

"First of all the best way to combat him is for us to have the ball," Wenger said ahead of the crucial match.

"After that you have to be shrewd with him because inside the box he is outstanding, because of his technique, his finishing, his movement...

"That's where we need the experience of [Per] Mertesacker and [Laurent] Koscielny to deal with that because that will be one of the important things on the night."

Arsenal have lost their opening two Champions League games and must avoid defeat against Bayern Munich to have a realistic chance of progress to the knock-out phase.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in