Bayern Munich vs Arsenal: Groundhog Day or a new dawn?

In about three weeks, one of two things will happen if you're an Arsenal fan – Arsene Wenger will be grinning from ear to ear after his team ended a last 16 hoodoo and knocked Bayern Munich out or (more likely) Wenger will be espousing the mental strength and quality that his Arsenal players showed, despite being outclassed by clearly superior opponents.

Bayern Munich vs Arsenal starting XI

So will it be a groan and moan or a yell of delight tinged with disbelief at Arsenal actually staying in the Champions League beyond February-early March?

Wenger will hope the team that he puts out at the Allianz Arena for their Champions League last 16 first leg clash on Wednesday, turns out to be the Jekyll version rather than the Hyde that so often comes to the fore in these big games.

Been here before

Bayern Munich are familiar opponents, but Arsenal will hope for a more unfamiliar result, over the two legs, from this round of 16 encounter.

Arsenal, to their credit, have come to the Allianz Arena and picked up a victory in the past, even if that win proved to be not enough as they produced another one of their many glorious exits from the last 16.

Big player time

Too many times, this season and in the recent seasons past, Arsenal's big players have gone missing. So, the onus lies on the Alexis Sanchezs and the Mesut Ozils to show why they should be considered world-class.

As good a team as Bayern are, Arsenal do have the quality and capabilities to beat the Bundesliga champions; it is just about having the belief, getting the tactics right and actually performing on the pitch on that particular day.

So far, Arsenal have shown they are capable of doing that over one leg, but when you turn a tie into 180 minutes, they have been found wanting more often than not.

While Arsenal are a pretty consistent side, they just aren't as consistent as a really top team should be; the main reason why they keep losing their way in the Premier League and Champions League.

Focus, mental strength and belief

It is almost as if they lose focus too often against the teams they should be beating and then when they run up against a bigger side, they seem to lack belief, that mental strength and those intangibles, which separates the title winners from the pretenders.

Bayern are a bona fide title winning team. Yes, their league might be a lot easier to win than the Premier League, but the Germans invariably reach the semifinals of the Champions League, at least.

That is the kind of consistency that Arsenal need to aspire to. And quibbling about the fact that they have drawn a title favourite yet again in the round of 16 isn't a good enough reason to go a seventh season without making it past the first knockout stage.

The time for talk, potential and "it will definitely be better next year" is over; Wenger's Arsenal need to show they can walk the walk just as much as they talk the talk. Put in a performance like PSG, the team that finished behind Arsenal in the group stages, did against Barcelona on Tuesday and then make sure you keep that ruthless streak going. Otherwise, it is going to be a long and all-too-familiar end to the season again.