By Matt Smith
The final assembly between the 2 sides in Europe got here again in 2018, once they confronted one another twice within the Europa League. A draw was performed out within the first leg, earlier than Atlético secured a 1-0 victory at dwelling to advance into the ultimate of the competitors.
Crew information
Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta was unable to name upon Piero Hincapié on the weekend towards Fulham, however he confirmed within the media on Monday afternoon that he’s out there for choice towards Atlético. The Gunners might be with out Noni Madueke, Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz, and Martin Ødegaard, however they need to haven’t any contemporary damage issues.
Diego Simeone’s facet might be with out Johnny Cardoso, however Nico González has been named within the squad, regardless of coming off injured of their earlier sport.
Arsenal’s nearly impenetrable defence
Arteta has constructed his facet on strong foundations, and regardless of bringing in a number of latest attacking expertise this season, their most spectacular trait stays their defensive solidity. The Gunners are but to concede within the Champions League, letting in simply three objectives within the Premier League.
No facet has conceded fewer anticipated objectives within the Premier League this season both, and that’s the similar story within the Champions League too. Though the likes of Viktor Gyökeres won’t be firing on all cylinders in assault, it’s not overly essential as a result of their ridiculous defensive ranges.
Atlético struggling to recover from the road
It’s been an inconsistent begin to the marketing campaign for Simeone’s facet, regardless of dropping simply as soon as in LaLiga up to now. Atlético have, nevertheless, drawn 4 of their opening 9 league video games, with three of these coming away from dwelling.
The Spanish facet are simply struggling to recover from the road in video games, however they’re exhibiting resilience in being troublesome to beat. They did safe an emphatic 5-2 victory over their Madrid rivals Actual again in September, earlier than comfortably beating Eintracht Frankfurt 5-1 a number of days later.
Julián Alvarez in tremendous type
Arsenal haven’t had a standout star this season, however they’ve undoubtedly been one of many best-performing sides in Europe. They’ve come up towards some tough attackers up to now this time period, however they don’t get rather more troublesome than Julián Alvarez.
This season, the Argentinian ahead has hit 11 objectives and assists mixed in all competitions for Atlético, with three of these coming in a single sport towards Frankfurt within the Champions League. He’ll know all concerning the Gunners’ defence, having confronted them on a number of events throughout his time in England.
Prediction
There isn’t prone to be too many objectives on this one contemplating Arsenal’s defensive document and Atlético’s standard setup away from dwelling. We’re going for a 1-0 win to Arteta’s facet.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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