Squawka
·5 November 2024
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Yahoo sportsSquawka
·5 November 2024
Inter Milan and Arsenal meet in the Champions League on Wednesday in a mouthwatering contest at the San Siro Stadium. This league-phase contest is scheduled to kick off at 20:00 and will be shown on TNT Sports 1 in the UK.
Inter Milan (3-5-2): Sommer; Pavard, De Vrij, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Mkhitaryan, Calhanoglu, Dimarco; Taremi, Martinez.
Arsenal (4-3-3): Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber; Merino, Partey, Rice; Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
Arsenal suffered a setback at the weekend with a 1-0 loss at Newcastle which leaves them outside the top four of the Premier League and seven points adrift of leaders Liverpool.
They will be hoping to get back on track with a victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League but the Italian premiers will be a tough nut to crack on home soil.
Inter are just inside the automatic qualification places in this competition, while Arsenal are down in ninth despite being on the same tally as Inter with seven points.
Neither side will want to cede any ground as this phase reaches the halfway point, so a cagey encounter looks likely in Milan this Wednesday.
Arsenal have claimed just one win from their last five matches away from home in all competitions and Saturday’s defeat at Newcastle was the third time this season they had fired a blank away from the Emirates.
However, the Gunners have been solid in this competition, keeping clean sheets in all three Champions League fixtures this season, but they face an Inter side who have also been particularly sound at the back, as would be expected from an Italian side.
The champions of Italy have kept five clean sheets in their last seven matches and they are also yet to concede in this competition this season.
An impressive 0-0 draw at Manchester City is included in that sequence and they will be more than happy to keep things tight against another of England’s top teams.
A cagey contest looks likely in San Siro this week, particularly as Arsenal have failed to score in three of their last five away matches in all competitions, and they should find Inter a tough side to break through.
Martin Odegaard’s absence is being keenly felt by Arsenal, who have struggled for creativity during his lengthy period on the sidelines.
His possible return on Wednesday could help matters in regards to creating more chances. However, he may take time to get up to full speed and Mikel Arteta has plenty of other injury issues to deal with.
The Gunners will be without defender Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee), Kieran Tierney (hamstring) and Riccardo Calafiori (knee) for this trip to Milan, but Ben White and Gabriel Magalhaes both returned to action at the weekend.
White came off the bench at Newcastle but is likely to start at the San Siro, allowing Arteta to return Thomas Partey back into midfield after he was forced to deputise at right back in Whites’s absence.
Alessandro was forced off with cramp in Inter’s 1-0 win over Venezia at the weekend but should be fit to feature on Wednesday.
As a result, Carlos Augusto looks set to be Inter’s only absentee with the Brazilian left-back expected to be out until after the international break due to a hamstring injury.