Bayern without Kimmich and Olise against Arsenal

Bayern Munich host Arsenal at the Allianz Arena on 21 October 2026, kick-off 8pm BST, with Kompany's side arriving top of the Bundesliga on 14 points from six games, four wins, two draws, no defeats, and a goal difference of plus 17. On paper this is the form team of Germany. On team-sheet reality, it's a side with two holes in it that aren't easy to fill overnight.

Kimmich's absence is the one that reshapes the picture. According to The Guardian's live coverage, the midfielder is out following a bereavement in his immediate family, and no timeline has been attached to his return. Whatever Kompany sends out in central midfield tonight, it's built around the Germany international not being there, not around tactical choice.

Olise's costly two minutes

Michael Olise won't be involved either, and his is a suspension entirely of his own making. The winger picked up two yellow cards inside two minutes during Bayern's 3-3 draw with Viking, turning a game that was already slipping away from control into one that cost his side a Champions League teammate for the next fixture. Losing a creative outlet of Olise's level against an Arsenal back line is the kind of absence that forces a rethink, not a reshuffle.

With Kimmich and Olise both unavailable, the attention shifts to who Kompany trusts to carry the game instead. Harry Kane remains the focal point up front, and Luis Díaz is among the names expected to shoulder more of the creative burden with Olise sidelined, though neither man can fully replace what two absentees take out of the side.

Arsenal's response

Arsenal have made two changes to their own lineup for the trip to Munich, according to The Guardian's live blog, though the exact alterations weren't detailed in that update. Whatever Mikel Arteta has adjusted, he does so against a Bayern side that is unbeaten domestically this season but walking into this one short-handed in two of its most important positions.

That's the shape of this one before a ball is kicked: the league leaders at home, missing a World Cup-winning-calibre midfielder for the saddest of reasons and an in-form winger for the daftest of them, against an Arsenal team that has quietly reshuffled its own XI. Kompany doesn't get to choose his problems tonight. He just has to solve them.