Familiar rivals Dortmund, Arsenal meet again in Champions League

Midfielders Arteta and Kagawa fight for the ball in a previous Arsenal-Dortmund match

What you need to know:

Playmaker Shinji Kagawa, signed from Manchester United, celebrated his second debut for Dortmund with a goal and an assist in the 3-1 win against Freiburg

London- Borussia Dortmund and Arsenal have been drawn into the same Champions League section for the third time in four seasons and their first group match of the 2014-15 campaign will take place in Germany tonight.

Last season, Dortmund won 2-1 in London, but lost 1-0 to the Gunners on their own patch. Both teams finished level on points with Napoli, but the German outfit topped the section, with Arsenal finishing in second position.

Dortmund were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Real Madrid last season after overcoming Zenit St Petersburg in the round of 16, while Arsenal went out to Bayern Munich in the round of 16.

Dortmund, who finished as runners-up two years ago and won the competition in 1997, are in their tenth group stage campaign, but they face an Arsenal team that has now been in the group stages of the competition for the last 17 seasons.

Arsenal needed a two-legged playoff to advance into the group stages, with a 1-0 aggregate success over Besiktas enough for Arsene Wenger’s side to advance.

Arsenal’s away record in the competition is also strong, with five wins from their last 10 on the road. However, the Premier League side have won just one of their four league games so far this season.

Dortmund, meanwhile, have started their Bundesliga campaign with two wins and a defeat.

The home side will be without the services of Jakub Blaszczykowski, Ilkay Gundogan, Oliver Kirch, Nuri Sahin and Marco Reus, who are all still on the sidelines with injuries.

Mats Hummels could also miss out after picking up a strain, and the German international was due to face a fitness test yesterday. Shinji Kagawa is expected to start his first Champions League match since returning to Dortmund, while there could also be a place in attack for Ciro Immobile.

Arsenal would have been without French right-back Mathieu Debuchy regardless of the player’s recent injury following his red card against Besiktas last time out. Theo Walcott also remains unavailable for the Gunners.