Arsenal in UCL trip to Atalanta after North London derby win.
Atalanta vs
Arsenal
As Atalanta BC hosts Arsenal for their first-ever competitive meeting in a highly-anticipated UEFA Champions League showdown, both teams aim to extend their recent hard-fought victories and set an early tone in Europe's elite competition at the revamped Gewiss Stadium.
Atalanta
A befitting new-looking Gewiss Stadium will host Atalanta’s maiden fixture against Arsenal in the revamped UEFA Champions League on Thursday night. Surprisingly, this will be the first-ever competitive meeting between the two teams.
Atalanta, who ended Bayer Leverkusen’s unbeaten run with a 3-0 win to claim the Europa League title last season following an Ademola Lookman hat trick, will be eager to get off to a flying start. However, their most recent European outing ended in a 2-0 loss against Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup final.
A hard-fought 3-2 win over Fiorentina at the weekend helped the Goddess put an end to successive league defeats, moving La Dea into 6th place with two defeats sandwiched by victories [WLLW]. Arsenal will be the fifth English side they face in European competition, and Atalanta will be looking to earn successive victories across two competitions.
Gasperini will have no reason to alter the 3-4-2-1 formation seen at the weekend against the Purples. Mateo Retegui, who has scored four goals in as many matches, will lead the attack, potentially teamed with Ademola Lookman and Charles De Ketelaere.
Unfortunately, a series of ACL injuries leave Gianluca Scamacca and Giorgio Scalvini out of the squad.
Arsenal
A hard-fought 1-0 win over Tottenham earned Arsenal their North London derby bragging rights at the weekend. "The resilience that we showed - we knew it would be a tough match, and that made it easier," Mikel Arteta said after the victory, which helped the Gunners remain in 2nd place on the Premier League table ahead of Thursday's clash with the Goddess.
With six opening wins in their last six major European campaigns, Arsenal will be looking to add to their tally of victories when they make the trip to Italy. However, their record against Italian outfits is not particularly impressive; the Gunners have won only seven of their 17 away games against such sides (7W, 4D, 6L). In addition, the Gunners have lost their last three UEFA Champions League away games in Italy.
A 4-4-2 formation was seen at the weekend against Spurs, but Arteta is expected to revert to the 4-2-3-1 with Kai Havertz in attack for this UCL fixture against Atalanta. New signing Riccardo Calafiori, formerly of Serie A side Bologna, is in doubt having picked up a shin injury.
