1 month ago
14 Arsenal fans will be eager for the international break to end as they prepare for some big games coming up in the Premier League title race, but also in the Champions League, as they’ll hope to build on their strong start to the campaign in their next European fixture against Shakhtar Donetsk.
The Gunners have never won the Champions League, but many fans will surely feel that this side put together by Mikel Arteta might represent their best chance of finally seeing that famous old trophy coming back to north London.
Still, there’s a long way to go yet and Arsenal will have to show that they can put teams like Shakhtar to the sword first, as they’ve so often been underwhelming against some of the smaller teams like this.
Shakhtar are an historic club and will be no pushovers in this tie, so what can we expect from Arsenal when they return to Champions League football at the Emirates Stadium next week?
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Arsenal team news for Shakhtar Donetsk clash
Arsenal have had some injury setbacks this season, most notably with Martin Odegaard, who remains a long-term absentee, so out of this game for sure, even if some of the more optimistic predictions have him making it back by the end of November or beginning of December.
There have also been slight worries over both Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli over the international break, though at the time of writing more updates will be needed, and things should be clearer as we get closer to this weekend’s Premier League game away against Bournemouth.
Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli of Arsenal (Photo by Fran Santiago/Getty Images)With Saka, it perhaps seems pretty clear that his removal by England was more of a precaution rather than anything serious, but Martinelli is more easily replaceable, so perhaps won’t be risked.
Arsenal predicted line up: Raya; Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Calafiori; Partey, Rice, Merino; Trossard, Havertz, Saka
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Shakhtar Donetsk predicted line up vs Arsenal
Shakhtar have often had plenty of top players in their ranks, and Georgiy Sudakov is probably the stand-out talent in their team now.
Assuming they have a clean bill of health, this is probably the Shakhtar line up we’ll see and they’ll no doubt have it in them to pose a threat to Arsenal if the Gunners aren’t at their best…
Shakhtar Donetsk predicted line up: Riznyk; Bondar, Matviienko, Enrique, Grham; Stepanenko, Zubkov, Gomes, Sudakov, Kryskiv; Eguinaldo
How to buy Arsenal tickets
Arsenal’s official tickets page can be found via their website here, but it’s not easy or cheap to snap up tickets to most of the club’s Premier League or Champions League games, even if some cup ties or pre-season friendlies might be more hopeful.
As an alternative, it might be worth checking livefootballtickets.com for the Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk game, as there are always long lists of the biggest football matches available, all without the need to fork out extra money for membership fees.
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Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk head to head record
Arsenal have only played Shakhtar four times before, twice in the Champions League in 2000, and then again in the Champions League ten years later in 2010.

 
The Gunners previously beat the Ukrainian giants 3-2 at Highbury, and later 5-1 at the Emirates Stadium, though they’ve lost both their away trips there, 3-0 and 2-1, respectively.
Arsenal will be the clear favourites to make it a third home win against these opponents, but anything can happen in football and it should be an entertaining game to watch.
