Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Bereft of confidence after a demoralizing weekend, Arsenal turn to their UEFA Champions League duties as out-of-sorts Shakhtar Donetsk touch down at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal paid a hefty price for William Saliba’s first-half expulsion against Bournemouth at the weekend, suffering their first defeat in any competition since losing to Bayern Munich in the Champions League in April. A 2-0 loss at the Vitality Stadium hampered the Gunners’ pursuit of their first Premier League title in two decades, not to mention knocked them down from a four-match winning streak. However, a scoring blank wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling for Mikel Arteta’s side, considering they drew 0-0 against Atalanta in their opening Champions League fixture before overcoming Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on this ground in round two. That victory extended Arsenal’s unbeaten run in home matches in the Champions League group/league phase to nine (W8, D1), highlighting their tag as odds-on pre-match favorites.

Visiting Shakhtar Donetsk will aim to pounce on Arsenal’s difficult moment and a severe injury crisis in North London to get off the mark in this season’s Champions League after blanking twice against Serie A sides Bologna (0-0) and Atalanta (0-3) in the opening two rounds. Despite their underdog status, the Ukrainians will unlikely feel out of their depth in England, considering they’ve scored in all four previous H2Hs against Arsenal (W2, L2). A narrow 1-0 domestic win against Kolos Kovalinka in the build-up to this trip marked the visitors’ second clean sheet on their last three competitive road trips (W1, D2), suggesting the Gunners will have to work their socks off to take three points. However, Shakhtar’s woeful seven-game winless run in away Champions League clashes against English sides paints a bleak picture (D1, L6).