Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard has issued a rallying cry to the Gunners over Harry Kane for the Gunners' Champions League quarter-final first leg with Bayern Munich in North London.
The two continental behemoths reunite at the Emirates on Tuesday evening seven years on from Bayern's humiliating 10-2 aggregate success in the 2016-17 last 16, where Arsenal lost 5-1 home and away.
The four-goal demolition at the Emirates remains Arsenal's biggest-ever defeat at the stadium, and they also went down by an identical scoreline to the perennial German champions in the 2015-16 group stage.
The Gunners' 2012-13 and 2013-14 Champions League adventures also ended at the hands of the Bavarians at the first knockout hurdle, and each of their four previous elimination-round ties with their visitors has seen the Premier League leaders come up short.
While Thomas Muller is the leading scorer in matches between Arsenal and Bayern with five goals to his name, his feats are dwarfed by Kane, who amassed a staggering 14 goals in 19 North London derbies during his time at Tottenham Hotspur.
Odegaard: 'Arsenal must respect Kane but not fear him'
Only against Leicester City (20) and Everton (16) has the England skipper found the back of the net on more occasions, and he has been smashing records for fun during his first season in the Bundesliga.
From 37 appearances in all competitions for Thomas Tuchel's side, Kane has recorded a mammoth 38 goals and 12 assists, and six Champions League strikes puts him top of the leaderboard alongside Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe and Antoine Griezmann.
The 30-year-old was on target twice in Bayern's 3-0 last-16 second-leg success over Lazio, but Odegaard has insisted that his side must not "fear" Kane, who was on the Arsenal academy books for one year from 2001 to 2002.
"I think we should respect him, but I don't think we should fear anyone. And we should focus on ourselves and the quality we have in our team, and that is all," the Evening Standard quotes Odegaard as saying.
"[Kane is] a good player, of course, and I have played against him a few times and we know the quality he has in the box and he is also good in the link-up [play]. We are facing a good team on Tuesday."
Can Arsenal's steadfast defence keep Kane in check?
While Kane has been a thorn in the Gunners' side for almost a decade now, the England captain steps foot onto the Emirates turf to face a Gunners side who have excelled defensively both domestically and continentally in 2023-24.
Since Yoane Wissa's comical equaliser for Brentford on March 9 - which was solely down to an Aaron Ramsdale clanger - Mikel Arteta's men have gone four games without shipping a goal, shutting out Porto, Manchester City, Luton Town and Brighton & Hove Albion in that time.
With William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes making their case to be heralded as the best centre-back partnership on the planet, the Gunners already boast the meanest defence in the Premier League, and the Emirates crowd are incredibly yet to see their nets breached in Champions League action.
Indeed, Lens, PSV Eindhoven, Sevilla and Porto have all left North London without scoring this season, meaning that the Gunners' most recent Champions League home game without a clean sheet was their last 5-1 dismantling at the hands of Bayern.
With their Bundesliga crown slipping out of their grasp, though, the Bavarians can forget about another five-goal haul in North London, but Arsenal are still sure to face an arduous defensive examination against a team only fighting for Champions League glory between now and June. body check tags ::
