Arteta urges Arsenal to deliver complete performance against Leverkusen

Mikel Arteta acknowledged that Arsenal are far from home and hosed in their Champions League last-16 tie with Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. 

Kai Havertz's 89th-minute penalty against his former club salvaged a draw for Arsenal at BayArena, putting them in firm control and with the advantage of playing at home. 

Arsenal have won 13 of their 16 home games under Arteta in the Champions League (D2 L1), with their only defeat coming in last season's semi-finals against eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain (0-1 in April 2025).

In addition, when avoiding defeat away from home in the first leg, Arsenal have progressed from 17 of their 20 two-legged knockout-stage ties in major European competition.

The latest of those eliminations did come under Arteta, however, losing on penalties to Sporting CP in the Europa League round of 16 in 2022-23. 

But the Opta supercomputer has given them a 79% chance of reaching the quarter-finals, while they are also assigned a 28% probability of winning the entire tournament. 

Leverkusen do, however, come into the clash following a 1-1 draw with Bundesliga leaders Bayern Munich, and Arteta acknowledged the difficulties awaiting his side. 

"A lot of factors will contribute to us being in the quarter-finals," Arteta told reporters on Monday. "We need to have every element in our favour to achieve that.

"Watching them play against Bayern, it was very similar. They are really well coached, with a clear structure.

"We know what we have to do in front of our crowd, and hopefully we are going to do it."

But all the talk leading up to the game has been around teenage sensation Max Dowman, after he scored against Everton in a 2-0 win at Emirates Stadium on Saturday. 

At 16 years and 73 days, Dowman became the youngest goalscorer in Premier League history, though his time on the pitch has been managed by the Gunners boss. 

Dowman has made seven appearances in all competitions for Arsenal in 2025-26, with two of those being starts, totalling 236 minutes worth of action. 

Asked if Dowman was ready for more regular game time, Arteta said: "Yeah, regularly, depending on what you call regularly.

"Depending on the game and how he reacts, I think his reaction has been really positive, and in relation to what we need in the game, there's always a possibility [he will play].

"To do what he did at such a moment is very rare to see or almost impossible.

"He's done it, and now it's football and what you've done a few days ago is not relevant any more, it's about the next one."