Champions League | League Stage

Oct 22, 2024 at 8pm UK

Emirates Stadium

Arsenal vs Shakhtar

Match preview

Arsenal may have swapped red for blue in one sense against Bournemouth on Saturday evening – debuting their new third kit at the Vitality Stadium – but the Gunners still saw red on the South Coast, as William Saliba became the third Arsenal man to take the walk of shame already this season.

The Frenchman was sent off for a last-man foul just before Ryan Christie scored a great goal from a corner and Justin Kluivert scored a confident penalty. It was a bad night for Arsenal, who also had a chance to score from Gabriel Martinelli before Christie scored.

Arsenal's disappointing 2-0 defeat on the South Coast meant they missed out on the chance to temporarily rise to the top of the Premier League standings. However, there's now a great opportunity to return to winning ways before next weekend's big match against title rivals Liverpool.

Arteta's team built on their lucky goalless draw with Atalanta BC with a well-deserved 2-0 win over Paris Saint-Germain on UCL matchday two. Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka both scored in the first half thanks to some questionable goalkeeping from Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Arsenal are currently placed thirteenth in the League Phase standings. They could now keep three straight clean sheets in the Champions League for the first time since November 2007. They haven't lost a non-knockout game at home in the competition since September 2015.

While Arsenal did well to keep Atalanta at bay on the opening matchday of the Champions League – thanks to some great goalkeeping from David Raya – Shakhtar couldn't get the better of the Europa League holders in their last European match.

Marino Pusic's side suffered a similar fate to Bayer Leverkusen, losing 3-0 to an impressive Ademola Lookman performance. The former Fulham player set up Berat Djimsiti before scoring himself in the first half, and Raoul Bellanova added a third early in the second half.

Shakhtar's heavy defeat to Atalanta came after they drew 0-0 with Bologna on matchday one. The teams are two of four still waiting for their first goal of the 2024-25 Champions League, the others being Red Bull Salzburg and BSC Young Boys.

On a more positive note, Pusic's side have won two matches in a row in the Ukrainian top flight since their last European defeat. They thrashed LNZ Cherkasy 5-1 before edging out Kolos Kovalivka 1-0 on Friday, although they only prevailed courtesy of an Ilir Krasniqi own goal.

Shakhtar's had a pretty inconsistent start to 2024-25, which has put them in fourth place in the Ukrainian Premier League rankings. They've lost both of their previous visits to Arsenal, with the most recent being a 5-1 defeat in 2010. Ex-Gunner Eduardo scored their consolation goal that day.

Recent Performance

Arsenal Champions League form:DW

Arsenal form (all competitions):DWWWWL

Shakhtar Donetsk Champions League form:DL

Shakhtar Donetsk form (all competitions):DWDLWWc

Injuries and suspensions

Arsenal

17 Oleksandr Zinchenko

3 Kieran Tierney

18 Takehiro Tomiyasu

8 Martin Ødegaard

7 Bukayo Saka

Shakhtar

12 Tymur Puzankov

Possible starting lineups

Arsenal possible starting lineup:

Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Havertz, Rice, Merino; Sterling, Jesus, Trossard

Shakhtar Donetsk possible starting lineup:

Riznyk; Konoplya, Bondar, Matvienko, Henrique; Stepanenko; Zubkov, Bondarenko, Sudakov, Newerton; Sikan