Arsenal vs. Borussia Dortmund: Match Thread

First off, apologies for not writing a preview. Life and work caught up to us this week, so we've been a bit behind in our coverage. All your subscriptions will be extended by a month at no extra charge by way of apology! Second, we all would like to wish a happy 64th birthday to Arsene Wenger. Because he totally reads this, you guys.

Wenger leads his team out at the Emirates tonight in what lazy journalists call a "litmus test'. That narrative goes, sure, Arsenal can beat up on the Norwiches and the WBA's of the world, but what about Champions League Runner Up And Everyone's Critical Darling Dortmund?

I hate narratives like that. Arsenal, on their day, can beat anyone. And this Arsenal team is in really good form right now; scoring goals on days like Saturday when they're not playing their best for 90 minutes, beating teams they should beat, and generally looking like a team that could go a long way in this, the only competition Wenger has yet to win.

For the visitors, Jürgen Klopp is suspended for this one, leaving assistant coach Želko Buvač in charge.

This is the first of two consecutive matches against Dortmund. Arsenal are currently unbeaten in group F, so four points from these two games will get them to 10 points, which should see Arsenal safely through to the knockout stage of the competition. I would very much like three of those four points to come tonight, please.

EDITORIAL NOTE: This game is not on any TV in the US (thanks, Fox!). As a reminder, TSF/SBN policy does not allow for discussion of or links to illegal streams in comments; if you need to watch that way, do so on your own. It's really not hard to find such a thing if you want to. Just don't talk about it here, OK? Swell.

LINEUPS:

ARSENAL: Szczęsny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Rosický, Arteta, Wilshere, Özil, Ramsey, Giroud
SUBS: Fabiański, Vermaelen, Monreal, Jenkinson, Cazorla, Gnabry

DORTMUND: Weidenfeller, Subotić, Hummels, Schmelzer, Bender, Reus, Błaszczykowski, Şahin, Grosskreutz, Lewandowski, Mkhitaryan
SUBS: Langerak, Kirch, Papastathopoulos, Durm, Hofmann, Aubameyang, Schieber