England captain Harry Kane has played a major role in Bayern\u2019s strong start, scoring an incredible 24 goals in just 18 matches across all competitions. According to talkSPORT\u2019s Andy Brassell, both Arsenal and Bayern have begun the season so impressively that they fully merit being considered early favourites for the Champions League title.<\/p>\n
Speaking on the Trans Europe Express, he explained:
\n\u201cIf you know you\u2019re one of the contenders, you welcome that challenge. You want to test yourself and see exactly where you stand. And Arsenal and Bayern are definitely in that bracket.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore the season kicked off, most people would have put PSG, Barcelona, and Real Madrid as the leading favourites to win the Champions League again \u2014 maybe even Liverpool. But based on what we\u2019ve seen so far, Arsenal and Bayern have earned their place among the top candidates.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brassell also pointed out that Arsenal look like a much stronger, more mature side compared to the team that fell short domestically and in Europe last season \u2014 and he believes the same transformation is evident at Bayern.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith Arsenal, they failed to take full advantage of their chances in the last couple of years,\u201d he said. \u201cThis season they feel different \u2014 it\u2019s not just the squad, it\u2019s the mentality and the atmosphere around the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI\u2019d say the same about Bayern and the way they exploded out of the blocks this season. It\u2019s interesting because they\u2019re quite far removed from Guardiola\u2019s Bayern, who always aimed to work with a small squad.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Kane mentioned: \u2018Yeah, we\u2019ve actually got quite a small squad this season,\u2019 he was right \u2014 and that\u2019s even with Jamal Musiala (broken leg), Alphonso Davies and a few others set to return in the New Year. Somehow, keeping things tight seems to be working for them. They look cohesive, well-drilled, and sharp.\u201d<\/p>\n
Arsenal riding high<\/p>\n
Arsenal go into their Champions League fixture brimming with confidence after their dominant north London derby win \u2014 a result that delighted lifelong fan Piers Morgan, who wasted no time rubbing it in to talkSPORT host and ex-Spurs player Jamie O\u2019Hara.<\/p>\n
Calling into talkSPORT Breakfast, Morgan boasted:
\n\u201cI\u2019d love a word with Jamie. I can\u2019t imagine how dreadful he must feel this morning \u2014 it must be one of the worst feelings possible. My sympathies go out to him.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd after all his talk about Eze being a waste of money, about Arsenal wrecking the Premier League, about how they\u2019d never be the bride \u2014 all that nonsense he\u2019s spouted for years \u2014 he was silenced yesterday in one glorious two-hour spell of football. I hope permanently.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAbsolutely shocking\u201d<\/p>\n
When O\u2019Hara got the chance to reply, he didn\u2019t hold back in criticising Tottenham\u2019s performance \u2014 which has sparked backlash against manager Thomas Frank\u2019s defensive set-up.<\/p>\n
Asked for his reaction to Spurs\u2019 display at the Emirates, O\u2019Hara said:
\n\u201cShocking. Absolutely shocking. One of the worst north London derbies I\u2019ve ever seen. It was disgraceful.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d rather go through a divorce again than watch that. It was embarrassing to sit there. I felt like changing the channel \u2014 there were better things on, like Countryfile.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut I forced myself to watch it, thinking the second half might improve. It didn\u2019t. It was a dreadful performance.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
England captain Harry Kane has played a major role in Bayern\u2019s strong start, scoring an incredible 24 goals in just 18 matches across all competitions. According to talkSPORT\u2019s Andy Brassell, both Arsenal and Bayern have begun the season so impressively that they fully merit being considered early favourites for the Champions League title. Speaking on …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":55372,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55374","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/harry-kane-fc-bayern-m-1040406280-1.webp","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55374","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55374"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55374\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55376,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55374\/revisions\/55376"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/55372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55374"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55374"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eplbanter.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55374"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}