4 reasons why Arsenal can win the Champions League

For the first time in 14 years, Arsenal have made it through to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

It's been a long hard road back to the latter stages of Europe's elite competition for the Gunners, and it's a journey that their fans don't want to end any time soon.

But can they actually win the Champions League this year? We've taken a look at why they can.

1. Goalscoring form

Since the end of January, Arsenal have managed to score a fairly ridiculous 34 goals in 10 games.

Simple maths tells you that's an average of 3.4 goals per game.

When you're averaging over three goals a game, chances are you're going to win most matches.

2. Kai Havertz's renaissance

While playing in midfield earlier in the season, Kai Havertz looked destined to flop at Arsenal.

The German international was struggling for goals and assists and was struggling to do anything positive to help his team.

Now being utilised as a false nine, Havertz looks back to his best.

Havertz's run of five goal contributions in his last five games has given Gunners' fans hope that he can lead the line and contribute in high leverage Champions League games for the club.

Considering he scored the winning goal in a Champions League final before for Chelsea, that hope is pretty justifiable.

3. World class centre-back partnership

As well as scoring a boatload of goals recently, Arsenal aren't conceding many either.

In that same stretch in which they've scored 34, the Gunners have shipped just four at the other end.

That fantastic defensive form has been down to the brilliance of their centre-backs William Saliba and Gabriel Magalhaes. The pairing are the perfect combination of brains and brawn at the heart of Arsenal's defence, and are more than capable of going toe-to-toe with the very best forwards that Europe has to offer.

4. The manager

As we saw on Wednesday night at the Estadio Civitas Metropolitano when Atletico Madrid knocked Inter out of the Champions League, top managers can inspire their teams to wins that are seemingly way beyond their technical capacity.

Diego Simeone is a manager who can do that, as is Jurgen Klopp, as is Pep Guardiola, and Mikel Arteta is too.

Arteta's tactical innovations have been the reason for Arsenal's successes of late, and if he can continue to innovate and come up with new ways to beat teams, then there's no reason why his team can't go all the way this season.

READ THE LATEST FEATURES AND ANALYSIS FROM 90MIN