Arsenal vs Dynamo Kyiv Preview, Live Score: Champions League 08-09

Struggling Arsenal will face Ukrainian giant Dynamo Kyiv at home on Tuesday in a group stage meeting of Champions League. Neither side can go into the match full of confidence thanks to their recent form. Arsenal lost to Aston Villa and Manchester City in their recent two premier league outings, while Dynamo Kyiv was beaten by defending champion of Ukrainian premier league Shakhtar Donetsk last week. Arsenal will be looking for compensation against Dynamo Kyiv for their recent home defeat to Aston Villa in premier league. For Dynamo Kyiv, a victory at Emirates stadium is badly needed for qualifying into the round of 32.

Match: Arsenal vs Dynamo Kyiv; Group G, UEFA Champions League 2008-09

Date: 25 November 2008, Tuesday

Venue: Emirates Stadium, London

Kick off: 19:45 BST (British Standard Time)

Arsenal is perhaps going through a tough time both on and off the field and this is perhaps worst time since Arsene Wenger joined the club in 1996. Arsenal slumped to their fifth premier league defeat last night when Manchester City thrashed Arsenal 3-0 at home. Wenger boys frustrated the home fans in the previous weekend when Asto Villa pulled off a 2-0 victory at Emirates stadium. With the disappointing performance at Manchester City that saw Arsenal suffering two back-to-back league defeats, Arsenal has slipped to the fifth position in the league table with 23 points from 14 matches, 10 points behind the leader Chelsea. Regarding Arsenal’s recent sluggish form Telegraph reported:

For the first time in Arsene Wenger’s long and distinguished career as manager of this club, Arsenal are slipping into disarray. The captain, William Gallas, has been stripped of his role and dropped for exposing a dressing room divided, and for the second week running they were comprehensively outplayed by a club that want to take Arsenal’s position in the food chain.

As I earlier mentioned that Arsenal is going through a rough patch of time both on and off the field. The off field turmoil at Arsenal camp is definitely one of the major cause of concern for Arsenal at these moment ahead of the European fixture against Dynamo Kyiv. William Gallas was stripped of captaincy and was ruled out of the trip to Manchester City last night for claiming lack of determination and courage among the team mates after the loss to Aston Villa. However, Arsene Wenger does not want to give much thought about it and he does not think that Gallas’ absence against Manchester City played any role behind their sloppy performance against Manchester City. Moreover, the manager also sees William Gallas has a future at Arsenal.

BBC reported:

"Of course he has a future at the club, but the less we talk the better it is," manager Wenger told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"We can change a captain without having to make a political issue of it."

Well, I do not know whether Arsene Wenger will rope in William Gallas for the match against Dynamo Kyiv or not, but one thing is for sure that they will have to come to terms with a number of injuries. Theo Walcott is injured out for at least three months after sustaining a dislocated shoulder while training with England national team ahead of the Germany friendly. Moreover, striker Emmanuel Adebayor is also out with injury that he suffered while representing Togo. Two defenders Bacary Sagna and Kolo Toure missed the match against Manchester City due to injury and I am not sure if they will be available for the match against Dynamo Kyiv. With 8 points from 4 matches, Arsenal just needs a draw to ensure a place in the round of 32, while Dynamo Kyiv needs to pick up at least 1 point from the match in order to keep the hope of qualifying into the knock out stage alive.

Online Live Score and Updates

Here, I am giving some names of online live score and updates websites from where you can get live score and updates of the match:

Live Score

Goalzz

Live Football Scores

Goal.com

Footie Scorez

I am not going to pick up either side as favorite because neither Arsenal nor Dynamo Kyiv is at their best at this moment. Either side can win the match. Arsenal will have home advantage, while Dynamo Kyiv will be gearing up to clinch a victory in order to keep their hope of going into the knock out stage alive. Anyway, I just hope that football fans will get to watch an exciting match.