Arsenal head to Italy to face Atalanta on Thursday as the Gunners open their UEFA Champions League campaign with a tricky test.
Given the injury issues piling up for Mikel Arteta’s side, their squad depth will be stretched to its limit as they Manchester City less than 72 hours after their game in Bergamo, Italy. Following on from their 1-0 derby win at Tottenham on Sunday, this Champions League opener sandwiched between two huge Premier League games will tell us a lot about how Arsenal’s squad will be able to handle the busy autumn period coming up.
[ MORE: UEFA Champions League hub — Format, schedule, more ]
Atalanta continue to overachieve massively and are back in the Champions League after a wonderful 2023-24 season which saw them finish fourth in Serie A and also win the Europa League trophy. Gian Piero Gasperini has created a masterpiece over the last eight years, as Atalanta continue to develop wonderful players with an attacking and entertaining philosophy and have become a breeding ground for Europe’s top clubs to find their next top talents.
How to watch Atalanta vs Arsenal live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 3pm ET Thursday (September 19)
Venue: Gewiss Stadium, Bergamo
How to watch: Stream on Paramount+ and TUDN USA
Atalanta focus, team news
It is always a good time watching Atalanta as Lookman, Pasalic, Retegui, Cuadrado, Zaniolo and De Ketelaere are all majestic attacking talents. Roared on by their home fans in their tight 21,000 capacity stadium in Bergamo (due to not being up to UEFA standards it wasn’t available to host games the last time Atalanta were in the Champions League, so this game is a big deal), Atalanta will make this a very hostile occasion for Arsenal. The way they play will be uncomfortable for Arsenal and Atalanta are very dangerous on the counter attack so the Gunners may play deeper, just as they did at Tottenham on Sunday.
Arsenal focus, team news
Arsenal are still without Oleksandr Zinchenko, Kieran Tierney, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Mikel Merino and captain Martin Odegaard, while Riccardo Calafiori is recovering from his calf injury and has a chance of making the bench. Declan Rice will come back into midfield after his one-game domestic suspension, but Bukayo Saka is an injury doubt after hobbling off towards the end of the north London derby. Arsenal will likely go with the same back four that started at Spurs with Rice coming in for Jorginho in midfield, Raheem Sterling potentially for Gabriel Martinelli on the left and Gabriel Jesus probably isn’t fit enough to start after recovering from injury.
Atalanta vs Arsenal prediction
This is going to be a fun one but Arsenal will aim to be solid like they were against Tottenham and launch counters of their own and make set-pieces count once again. The Gunners will get it done but it won’t be easy. Atalanta 1-2 Arsenal.