Match Preview: Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk

Written by Theo Tarling

After a disappointing weekend in the Premier League which saw Arsenal lose their first game of the 24/25 season away at Bournemouth, the Gunners look to quickly bounce back with a return to UEFA Champions League action at home to Ukrainian Champions Shakhtar Donetsk tonight (Tuesday 21st October, 8PM).

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FORM

Arsenal are looking to continue their unbeaten start to the newly formed Champions League "league phase" which has seen them pick up a 0-0 draw away to Atalanta on matchday 1 before an impressive 2-0 victory at home to Paris-Saint-Germain last time out on matchday 2. The results leave us 13th in the league.

On the contrary, Shakhtar have struggled at the start of this brand new format, picking up only 1 point after 2 games, a 0-0 draw away at Bologna on matchday 1. Last time out they were comprehensively beaten by our matchday 1 opponents and current UEFA Europa League holders, Atalanta. They currently sit in 27th place in the league.

RECENT FORM

Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk have met four times in the UEFA Champions League with the last of those meetings coming during the 2010/11 season which saw Arsenal win 5-1 at the Emirates in the first group stage fixture before in the reverse fixture, Shakhtar came from behind to win 2-1, with the winner coming from a former Gunner himself in Eduardo.

RECENT RESULTS:

2010/11

Matchday 3: Arsenal (5) Shakhtar Donetsk (1)

Matchday 4: Shakhtar Donetsk (2) Arsenal (1)

2000/1

Matchday 2: Arsenal (3) Shakhtar Donetsk (2)

Matchday 6: Shakhtar (3) Arsenal (0)

OPPONENTS KEY PLAYERS and TACTICAL SETUP

Looking at their recent matches, Shakhtar appear to have lined up in a 4-1-2-3 shape, putting a lot of authority on the 2 number 10s, Georgiy Sudakov and Artem Bondarenko to be the main creative outlets.

However in their two Champions League matches so far, they have used different formations with Marino Pusic opting for a 4-3-3 on matchday 1 against Bologna which saw them draw 0-0 before reverting to a 3-4-1-2 in their 3-0 defeat in their second game away at Atalanta.

Considering the emphasis they have on the 2 attacking midfielders, it comes as no shock that Sudakov (9 G/A) and Bondarenko (6G/A) have racked up the most G/A for the team this season.

MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee:

Benoît Bastien - FRANCE

Assistant Referees:

Hicham Zakrani - FRANCE

Aurelien Berthomieu - FRANCE

Assistant VAR:

Willy Delajod - FRANCE

VAR:

Benoit Millot - FRANCE

TEAM NEWS

Arsenal will be hoping that they can begin to get some of their players back for tonight's fixture in what is the beginning of a very tough period for the Gunners.

Mikel Arteta provided some positive updates for Arsenal fans in his pre match conference on Monday ahead of the game, saying that Arsenal's captain Martin Odegaard and Bukayo Saka were both progressing "really well" but Odegaard was "still not fit" giving the consensus that it would be at least another week or two until he started to get towards a return on the pitch. With Saka, Arteta said it was a case of "seeing how he feels later on" as Arsenal were due to train on Monday afternoon.

Arsenal will also be hoping that Jurrien Timber is fit for tonight's game considering this weekend's mammoth clash against table topping Liverpool will be one without star defender, William Saliba, after his straight red card for the denial of a clear goal scoring opportunity against Bournemouth on Saturday.

On Timber's fitness, Arteta said that "he is going to be close and we have to see how he deals with training in the whole group."

Arteta also confirmed that Jurrien Timber suffered a muscular injury that kept him out during this period rather than anything related to the ACL injury that kept him out the entirety of the 23/24 season.

FACTS

Arsenal facts:

• Arsenal last faced Ukrainian opponents in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League group stage, beating Vorskla Poltava 4-2 at home and 3-0 away – the latter game being Bukayo Saka's first-team debut.
• The loss against Shakhtar in 2010 is Arsenal's only reverse in their last seven games against teams from Ukraine (W5 D1) and the only one of the last five they have not won.
• The Gunners have recorded five victories at home in a row against Ukrainian visitors, scoring 14 goals.
• This is Arsenal's 21st Champions League campaign – second only to Manchester United's 25 campaigns among English clubs – but only their second in eight seasons. The 2016/17 season had been their 19th in a row, all of which came under Arsène Wenger.
• Arsenal have won 12 of their last 16 home European matches, losing only one.

Shakhtar facts:

• Shakhtar's last games against Premier League opponents came in the 2019/20 group stage, when they lost 0-3 at home to Manchester City before a 1-1 away draw.

• A 2-1 win at home to City on Matchday 6 in 2017/18 is Shakhtar's only success in their last nine games against English clubs (D2 L6) – they have lost five of the last seven against English sides.

• The draw in Manchester in November 2019 ended Shakhtar's run of six successive losses in England and was only the second time they have avoided defeat in their nine games there, in which they conceded 24 goals.

• The Ukrainian side are making an eighth successive appearance in the Champions League proper, and a 19th overall. They have featured in all but one of the last 15 seasons.

• The Pitmen have failed to progress to the knockout rounds in each of the last six campaigns.

• Oleksandr Zinchenko was part of Shakhtar's academy between 2010 and 2014.Zinchenko is a Ukraine team-mate of Valeriy Bondar, Taras Stepanenko, Mykola Matviyenko, Yukhym Konoplia, Georgiy Sudakov, Oleksandr Zubkov and Danylo Sikan.