Big Midweek: Arsenal v Bayern, Mo Salah, Thomas Frank, Chelsea, Championship title clash

Two graduates of the School of Guardiola face off, another tries to tame Barcelona , and the spotlight falls firmly on Liverpool, Arne Slot and Mohamed Salah , as well as Tottenham and Thomas Frank.

Arsenal vs Bayern Munich and Chelsea vs Barcelona pit confident heavyweights against each other, but the same can’t be said for Liverpool hosting PSV or Spurs travelling to Champions League holders Paris Saint-Germain.

Strap in for a Big Midweek, folks…

Two of Pep Guardiola’s protégés, Mikel Arteta and Vincent Kompany, will battle it out as head coaches for the first time when Arsenal host Bayern on Wednesday evening, in what is the standout tie of a midweek packed with spectacular fixtures, including Chelsea v Barcelona , Paris Saint-Germain v Tottenham Hotspur , Marseille v Newcastle United, Manchester City v Bayer Leverkusen, Atletico Madrid v Inter and, of course, Aberdeen v Artsakh.

Bayern have been near-perfect this campaign, failing to win only one of their 18 matches across all competitions. They are fresh off a 6-2 comeback thumping of Freiburg in the Bundesliga, and their most recent Champions League result was a 2-1 win at reigning European champions PSG , the same side that knocked the Gunners out of the competition last season. They are a serious, serious team.

But so are Arsenal . Riding high after smashing arch-rivals Tottenham 4-1 in the Premier League , Arteta’s side are top of the table and odds-on to win their first league title since 2004. In that time, Bayern have won the Bundesliga 16 times and the Champions League twice.

Not only are Bayern a formidable force right now, but they also carry a European aura that Arsenal lack. It will be a true test for both sides, with a win for either sure to underline their credentials to go all the way.

This match sells itself, really. It’s two teams stacked with superstar quality, both in their absolute pomp, succeeding with contrasting styles but shaped by the same Guardiola coaching school. If Arsenal are going to lose a league phase match at the Emirates under Arteta, this could be it. If Bayern are going to lose an actual game of football this season, this could also be it. The only thing guaranteed is a Harry Kane penalty.

Chelsea v Barcelona is an iconic modern-day Champions League tie, and the latest instalment arrives on Tuesday night in their first meeting in the competition since the 2017/18 round of 16.

They are two wildly successful teams with a very tight record in Europe’s premier competition, despite it often feeling as though Barcelona are the stronger side whenever they meet. The head-to-head stands at four wins each and six draws from 14 meetings, while Barcelona have been crowned European champions five times. Chelsea , meanwhile, have lifted the trophy twice, most recently in 2021, six years after Barca’s last triumph.

Arsenal v Bayern just about edges it as the tie of the week, but this is going to be a corker, one that will tell us far more about Chelsea than any other Premier League club in Europe this week…if they win.

Barcelona played and won at Camp Nou for the first time in over 900 days on Saturday, smashing Athletic Club 4-0. Chelsea , meanwhile, played in Burnley – England’s answer to Catalonia. Where this battle could be won is in midfield. It might sound like a lazy narrative, but it’s the truth.

Chelsea must overwhelm their visitors in the middle of the park and, with Moises Caicedo nice and fresh after being rested against Burnley, they’re more than capable. Hansi Flick has the pressure-resistant Frenkie de Jong to anchor things, but without Gavi and especially Pedri, a potential pivot of De Jong and Eric Garcia is there to be exploited.

Barca still have the individual quality in attack to make the difference. Lamine Yamal , Marcus Rashford, Robert Lewandowski, Fermin Lopez, and Raphinha are all frightening propositions for any backline, but Reece James and Marc Cucurella are no slouches.

It’s going to be a very tough test for Enzo Maresca and his players. But if they come out of it unscathed, people will start to look at Chelsea very differently.

For 35 minutes against Arsenal , Spurs were mature, hard to break down, and frustrating, tactically astute opposition. In the space of five minutes, they became unadventurous, clueless, and tactically unaware. Thomas Frank clearly got his tactics disastrously wrong in Sunday’s north London derby, putting too much emphasis on stopping Arsenal and seemingly forgetting how to create chances, let alone put the ball in the bloody goal hole.

Sky Sports provided some of the most damning statistics you’ll see all season. All of the below ranked dead last for the season, with the number in brackets showing where it ranked in Spurs’ 392 Premier League games since 2015/16:

Frank would have been naive to go all guns blazing at the Emirates, but their performance was unacceptable considering the magnitude of the fixture. The Dane is under severe pressure already. A trip to the champions of Europe is the last thing he needs.

Spurs’ form in the Champions League has been questionable this season as Frank experiences the competition for the first time in his managerial career. Away from home, they were fortunate to draw at Bodo/Glimt and AS Monaco. They now face PSG , with the Spurs boss stuck between a rock and a hard place. Again, he can’t go all guns blazing as Spurs will get smacked silly, but he must find the right balance between being defensively solid and posing any sort of threat in attack.

If Frank can’t do that, whether it’s a fixture as tough as PSG away or not, he’ll lose the faith of even more supporters.

Whether he’s on the pitch or on the bench, Salah is the player to watch this midweek. While the majority of Spurs criticism seem to fall at Frank’s door, fingers are being pointed at far more than just the Liverpool manager.

Arne Slot is in uncharted territory as Liverpool boss after winning the Premier League at a canter in his first year. Replacing Jurgen Klopp was supposed to be difficult, but he made it look like a piece of p*ss without making any signings. Throw some of Slot’s own signings into the equation and the Reds have become bloody pants. Their new boys, including two £100million buys, have struggled, and most of those who were in form last term have been shocking.

Salah’s downturn might be the most drastic of the lot, though Ibrahima Konate is giving him a run for his money. In truth, Salah has been off it since April, which coincides with the title being wrapped up and his contract extension. Nobody really cared then, but three months into 2025/26, everyone cares.

After registering 34 goals and 23 assists across all competitions last season, Salah has only five goals and three assists in 17 games this campaign. That’s nowhere near good enough, and it’s not just the headline numbers where the 33-year-old is lacking. His work rate has been poor, he’s looked dejected, and he’s been going through the motions in games, offering little off the ball and looking uninspired, even limited, on it. He lost 10 take-on attempts against Nottingham Forest on Saturday, the most by any player in a Premier League match this season, and across all 12 league games he has completed just 11 of 38 attempted take-ons, a success rate of 28.9%.

The fact of the matter is simple: Salah deserves to be dropped. The unfortunate reality for Slot is that there’s no like-for-like replacement. Liverpool have players who can fill in on the right, but they lack natural options, and have no left-footed ones. Federico Chiesa should be given the nod. If he is, we’ll watch Salah like a hawk from the bench and even closer when he comes on. His body language and reactions should tell a story after his Frankfurt ‘strop’.

It’s first v second in the Championship on Tuesday night, with the added narrative of it being Middlesbrough’s first match since the appointment of Kim Hellberg, the 37-year-old Swedish head coach who also held talks with Swansea City .

Middlesbrough may have won only one of their last five league games and have lost manager Rob Edwards, but they still occupy an automatic promotion spot. They sit three points above Stoke City in third, although a significant seven behind pacesetters Coventry.

Frank Lampard’s side have been relentless this season. It took until matchday 13 for Coventry to lose in the league, and it would’ve been easy for them to fall into a slump given the madness and unpredictability of the second tier. Instead, they dusted themselves down and went straight onto another winning run.

Winning 1-0 at Stoke was a gigantic result, and backing it up with a 3-2 victory over West Bromwich Albion on Saturday sent another strong message to their promotion rivals.

And as things stand, there are no bigger promotion rivals than Middlesbrough. Facing the second-best team in the division away from home is the toughest fixture they could possibly have on paper. It’s difficult to predict this one with Boro under new management, but we’re fairly confident there will be goals. There usually are in Coventry games.