Leaders Bayern and Arsenal meet in London looking to extend perfect start

It will be a battle between the top two teams in the Champions League when Bayern Munich visits Arsenal tomorrow [Thursday, 04:00].

Arsenal’s league-leading defense will take on Harry Kane and Bayern’s highly rated attack in the fifth round of the league phase.

Bayern and Arsenal have similar records atop the standings, each with four straight wins and a goal difference of 11 goals. Bayern is ahead because it has scored 14 goals, three more than Arsenal. Only Paris Saint-Germain has also scored 14 times so far.

Bayern’s attack is led by a red-hot Kane, who has 26 goals for club and country in 19 matches. Kane has five Champions League goals, tied with Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappé. Galatasaray’s Victor Osimhen is the top scorer with six goals.

Premier League leader Arsenal is the only team yet to concede in the league phase, while Bayern — the Bundesliga leader — was scored on three times.

Bayern has won 16 of its 17 games this season, with the only setback a 2-2 draw at Union Berlin in the Bundesliga earlier this month. Arsenal is unbeaten in 15 straight matches. It has 15 wins in 18 matches across all competitions.

Perfect Inter

Inter Milan, the only other team with a perfect record after four rounds, on Wednesday visits an Atletico Madrid side that has won five in a row in all competitions since a 4-0 loss at Arsenal in the Champions League.

Inter is coming off a 1-0 loss to rival AC Milan in the Italian league, a result that kept it from moving to the top of the table.

Runner-up to PSG last season, Inter has lost only one of its last 18 league-phase or group-stage matches in the Champions League, with 13 wins and four draws.

Forward Lautaro Martínez has 12 goals in his last 11 Champions League appearances and has scored in five straight league-phase matches.

Atletico forward Julián Alvarez has nine goals in 13 Champions League appearances for Diego Simeone’s club. He scored eight times in 17 matches while with Manchester City.

Man City’s 300

Fourth-place Man City hosts Bayer Leverkusen today looking for its 300th goal in the Champions League proper. It is three goals shy of the mark.

Haaland has scored in five straight Champions League appearances for the third time in his career. He is aiming to make it six in a row for the second time.

City is unbeaten in its last 23 league-phase or group-stage matches at home, with 20 wins and three draws.

Leverkusen is looking for its 50 European Cup-Champions League victory.

Struggling Real Madrid

Real Madrid visits Olympiakos on Wednesday hoping to end a three-game winless streak across all competitions.

Madrid drew 2-2 at Elche in the Spanish league on Sunday. It was coming off a 0-0 draw at Rayo Vallecano, and a 1-0 loss at Liverpool in the Champions League. Xabi Alonso’s team had won 13 of its previous 14 matches to start the season. Madrid sits in seventh place.

Pointless matchup

Ajax hosts José Mourinho’s Benfica today [Wednesday, 01:45] in a match between the only teams yet to earn a point in the league phase.

Both clubs sit at the bottom of the table after losing four straight. Ajax is last after being outscored 14-1. Benfica was outscored 8-2.

Other matches

Eleventh-place Barcelona and 12th-place Chelsea will meet today for the first time since Barcelona advanced 4-1 on aggregate in the round of 16 of the 2017-18 season. The clubs have split their 14 European meetings, with four wins each and six draws.

Eighth-place Liverpool will host PSV Eindhoven on Wednesday needing one goal to reach the 500-goal milestone in the European Cup-Champions League. Mohamed Salah is two goals away from becoming the first African player to reach 50 goals in the competition.

Borussia Dortmund, which hosts winless Villarreal today, needs two goals to reach 350 goals in the top European tournament. Villarreal is winless in its last seven Champions League matches, with five losses.

Fifth-place PSG hosts 10th-place Tottenham on Wednesday hoping to avoid successive league-phase or group-stage home losses for the first time. It is coming off a 2-1 loss to Bayern Munich. TALES AZZONI, MADRID, MDT/AP