First off, apologies for the lateness of the preview. I had it in my head that this game was on Wednesday, not Tuesday. My scheduler will not be getting their Christmas bonus this year after all.
Anyway, after the fun that was Saturday, Arsenal host Dinamo Zagreb in the latest in their We Gotta Win This Or Else series of Champions League games. This series, of course, is brought to you by the same Arsenal who lost to this same Zagreb team way back in September, so a return engagement is certainly no pushover. Dinamo have an identical CL record to Arsenal, but are in third place in the group thanks to a slightly better goals allowed total (9 for DZ, 10 for Arsenal). So it's fair to say that neither team are lighting it up in Europe this season.
I think it's also fair to say that a healthy Arsenal should beat Dinamo Zagreb reasonably easily; the fact that they didn't in September is worrisome, and the fact that they're not healthy at all right now is doubly worrisome.
The stakes here are pretty clear: if Arsenal don't win, they won't progress. Even if they do win, they have to rely on Bayern beating Olympiakos, but it is imperative that Arsenal win in order to keep their faint hopes of progression alive.
The good news is, Aaron Ramsey is available; the bad news is that almost no one else is. Which is an exaggeration, sure, but not by much. Anyway, Arsenal have it all to do tomorrow, and for once I'll care about a non-Arsenal Champions League game as well. It will be quite the day. I hope it's a pleasant one.