Sports Mole previews Tuesday’s Champions League clash between Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Having seen their Premier League unbeaten run come to a painful end, Arsenal hope to avoid suffering the same fate in the Champions League at home to Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night.
The Gunners have taken four points from their opening two matches in this year’s new-look edition, while their Ukrainian counterparts currently sit outside the coveted top 24 places in the league phase table.
Match preview
© Imago
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’s dismissal for a last-man foul preceded a sublime corner routine goal from Ryan Christie and confident penalty from Justin Kluivert on an evening where nothing went right for a ravaged Arsenal, who were also left to rue a wasted chance from the increasingly profligate Gabriel Martinelli before Christie’s opener.
Arsenal’s sorry 2-0 defeat on the South Coast saw them squander the chance to temporarily rise to the top of the Premier League standings, but a prime opportunity to return to victorious ways now awaits before next weekend’s heavyweight showdown with title rivals Liverpool.
Arteta’s men followed up their fortuitous goalless draw with Atalanta BC with a deserved 2-0 success over Paris Saint-Germain on UCL matchday two, as Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka both capitalised on questionable goalkeeping from Gianluigi Donnarumma to register in the first half.
Thirteenth in the League Phase standings at this embryonic stage, Arsenal could now keep three straight clean sheets in the Champions League for the first time since November 2007, and not since September 2015 have they lost a non-knockout game at home in the competition.
© Imago
While Arsenal just about managed to keep Atalanta at bay on the opening matchday of the Champions League – thanks in no small part to the goalkeeping heroics of David Raya – Shakhtar were powerless to quell the Europa League holders in their last European affair.
Sharing the same fate as Bayer Leverkusen, Marino Pusic‘s side succumbed to an Ademola Lookman masterclass in a 3-0 beatdown; the ex-Fulham man set up Berat Djimsiti before scoring himself in the first half, and Raoul Bellanova put the cherry on top early in the second 45.
Shakhtar’s heavy defeat to Atalanta came after their uninspiring goalless draw against 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.
However, Pusic’s side have strung together back-to-back wins in the Ukrainian top flight since their last European defeat, thumping 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 wildly inconsistent start to 2024-25 means that they are only fourth in the Ukrainian Premier League rankings, and both of their previous visits to Arsenal have ended in defeat, most recently a 5-1 slaughter in 2010 – ex-Gunner Eduardo scored their consolation goal that day.
Arsenal Champions League form:
Arsenal form (all competitions):
Shakhtar Donetsk Champions League form:
Shakhtar Donetsk form (all competitions):
Team News
© Imago
Despite initial hope that his hamstring injury might settle down in time for the clash with Bournemouth, assist king Bukayo Saka did not make the cut at the weekend, and the 23-year-old remains a serious doubt for the visit of Shakhtar.
Jurrien Timber – who performed exceptionally against PSG – is in the same boat with his muscular problem, while Martin Odegaard (ankle), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Kieran Tierney (hamstring) are definitely missing, although the former has the slimmest chance of coming back for the Liverpool game.
Saliba’s dismissal at the weekend also has no impact on his availability for the Champions League, where Arteta will surely consider a few rotations before the Liverpool game; Thomas Partey is a prime candidate for a rest.
In contrast, Shakhtar should arrive at the Emirates with a near fully-fit squad; the visitors’ only concern is fourth-choice goalkeeper Tymur Puzankov, who is on the long road to recovery from an ACL injury.
The jewel in the Shakhtar crown – Georgiy Sudakov – will be pulling the strings against one of his reported admirers on Tuesday night, and the 22-year-old has made a brilliant start to the season domestically with seven goals and two assists in nine top-flight appearances.
Danylo Sikan also has a strong case to replace Eguinaldo up front too; the 23-year-old has had a hand in four of Shakhtar’s last seven away goals in the Champions League, three of his own and one assist.
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
We say: Arsenal 3-0 Shakhtar Donetsk
A sight for sore Arsenal eyes, Shakhtar Donetsk have had both the fewest shots overall (10) and efforts on target (one) in the current Champions League season, and Pusic’s men will surely be found wanting in the final third again.
A Gunners XI without Saka or Odegaard is one missing significant ingenuity, but even a rotated Arsenal side should have no problems sweeping aside Shakhtar, as long as their own indiscipline does not let them down again.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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