Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – League phase betting tips on match 2024-10-21 19:00.
[p]Arsenal enter this UEFA Champions League (UCL) clash against Shakhtar Donetsk on the back of the unfamiliar feeling of defeat after they went down 2-0 to Bournemouth on Saturday night. Boss Mikel Arteta cited “two big errors”, including a 30th minute red card for William Saliba, as the reason for why they fell to a first competitive defeat since going down 1-0 [/p]
[p]to Bayern Munich in the UCL back in April.[/p]
[p]Bouncing back in the UCL will now be top of Arteta’s agenda ahead of next weekend’s clash with title rivals Liverpool, and Arsenal should feel confident of gathering some momentum given they’re unbeaten in nine UCL group/league phase home games (W8, D1). All eight of those victories came with accompanying clean sheets, but in four H2Hs (W2, L2) they’ve never managed to shut Shakhtar out, conceding at least twice on three occasions. [/p]
[p]Shakhtar continue to play catch-up in the Ukrainian Premier League after a slow start to the campaign sees them six points behind leaders Dynamo Kyiv. They at least added a victory in the lead up to their first trip to England since 2019, beating Kolos Kovalivka 1-0 on Friday night to stretch their unbeaten league run to five matches (W4, D1), form they’ll be desperately keen to transfer into Europe. [/p]
[p]So far they’ve failed to do that, finding themselves amongst the 13 sides still to register a UCL league phase victory ahead of the round. Finding their first win here seems unlikely at best for a side winless in their last seven UCL visits to England (D1, L6), but it’s something they may have to do if they’re to avoid extending a torrid record of failing to reach the knockout rounds in each of their last six UCL campaigns.[/p]
[p]Players to watch: Watch out for a first-half Gabriel Martinelli blitz, as he’s scored each of his five European goals for Arsenal before half-time. A goal from Oleksandr Zubkov could lead to a surprising result, as his three goals this term came in three wins for his side in which they scored exactly five times in each![/p]
[p]Hot stat: Arsenal have scored 2+ goals in eight of their last ten UCL home games. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]