Nine points is Arsenal's aim as Dortmund visit

Arsenal FC put their perfect record in Group F on the line against last year's runners-up Borussia Dortmund, the second time the sides have been paired together in the UEFA Champions League in three seasons.

• The London side followed up their win at Olympique de Marseille by beating SSC Napoli on matchday two. The Italian club had overcome Dortmund in their first fixture, the German club bouncing back by beating Marseille.

Previous meetings
• The teams last met in 2011/12 when two Robin van Persie goals gave Arsenal the points at home despite Shinji Kagawa's added-time response.

• The teams at the Arsenal Stadium on 23 November 2011 were:
Arsenal: Szczęsny, Koscielny (Djourou 83), Mertesacker, Vermaelen, André Santos, Song, Arteta, Ramsey, Walcott (Diaby 85), Van Persie, Gervinho (Benayoun 74).
Dortmund: Weidenfeller, Piszczek, Felipe Santana, Hummels, Schmelzer, Kehl (Barrios 64), Bender (Leitner 25), Götze (Perišić 29), Grosskreutz, Kagawa, Lewandowski.

• Van Persie had also pointed the Gunners towards a matchday one victory at the BVB Stadion Dortmund before Ivan Perišić volleyed a superb late equaliser.

• The teams crossed swords in the 2002/03 first group stage, Arsenal winning 2-0 in London and Dortmund turning the tables with a 2-1 win in Germany.

• Arsenal faced two Bundesliga sides last season, losing 2-0 at home to FC Schalke 04 before drawing 2-2 away. That defeat ended the Gunners' run of six successive home wins against German visitors and also a sequence of 45 home games unbeaten when facing non-English opponents.

• That was followed by another home reverse as FC Bayern München won 3-1 in the round of 16. Arsène Wenger's team – in the knockout rounds for the 13th successive time – rallied to win 2-0 in Munich but went out on away goals.

• Arsenal's home record against German clubs is W9 D1 L3; overall it is W13 D5 L8.

• Dortmund drew 1-1 at Manchester City FC on their way to winning Group D last season and progressed to the final which took them back to England to face domestic rivals Bayern at Wembley Stadium. They lost 2-1 however, to Arjen Robben's late goal.

• Dortmund beat Liverpool FC 2-1 in the final of the 1965/66 European Cup Winners' Cup having disposed of West Ham United FC 5-2 on aggregate in the semi-finals.

Match background
• The Gunners are in the group stage for the 16th season in a row. For the sixth time in eight campaigns they had to negotiate a qualifying round, dispatching Fenerbahçe SK 5-0 on aggregate in the play-offs with Aaron Ramsey scoring three times.

• Dortmund are in their ninth UEFA Champions League campaign. They were victorious in the 1997 edition and last season was their most successful campaign since then, remaining unbeaten until the semi-final second leg when they lost 2-0 at Real Madrid CF. They still won the tie 4-3 on aggregate after Robert Lewandowski scored all four in a 4-1 first-leg win in Dortmund.

• An earlier visit to Santiago Bernabéu in last season's group stage had ended 2-2 while apart from the draw at Manchester City they also won 4-1 at AFC Ajax in the group stage. In the knockout rounds they drew 2-2 at FC Shakhtar Donetsk and 0-0 at Málaga CF, although this season's matchday one defeat in Naples means they have lost their last two UEFA Champions League away matches and are without a win in their last four.

Team ties
• Tomáš Rosický played for Dortmund between 2000 and 2006, scoring 19 goals in 149 Bundesliga games.

• Per Mertesacker, Mesut Özil and Lukas Podolski are team-mates with Mats Hummels, Marcel Schmelzer, Kevin Grosskreutz, Sebastian Kehl, İlkay Gündoğan and Marco Reus in the German national side.

• Arsenal goalkeepers Łukasz Fabiański and Wojciech Szczęsny play for Poland along with Jakub Błaszczykowski, Robert Lewandowski and Łukasz Piszczek.

• Jack Wilshere appeared as a second-half substitute in England's 2-0 win over Poland in a FIFA 2014 World Cup qualifier at Wembley on 15 October. Błaszczykowski and Szczęsny played the full game for the visitors, Lewandowski was replaced at half-time, and Kieran Gibbs was an unused substitute for the hosts.

• Podolski won the 2007/08 DFB-Pokal with Bayern in a 2-1 win against Dortmund after extra time. He scored twice against Dortmund in 14 encounters during his eight years with 1. FC Köln and Bayern between 2004 and 2012 with the record W3 D3 L8. 

• Özil played for Schalke and SV Werder Bremen from 2006 to 2010. He made eight appearances against Dortmund (W3 D2 L3) and scored for Bremen in a 1-1 draw on 8 November 2009.

• Özil faced Dortmund four times for Real Madrid in last season's UEFA Champions League. In the group stage his 89th minute free-kick earned a 2-2 draw.

• Mertesacker scored two goals in 16 appearances against Dortmund during his career with Hannover 96 and SV Werder Bremen between 2003 and 2011. His record was W5 D3 L8. 

• Oliver Giroud scored France's opening goal in their 2-1 friendly win against Germany in Bremen on 29 February 2012. The home team included Hummels and Reus, with Schmelzer on the bench.

• Szczęsny played for Poland in a 2-2 draw – Błaszczykowski and Lewandowski scoring the goals – with Schmelzer's Germany in a September 2011 friendly in Gdansk. Hummels was on the German bench.