The Daily Star Ireland
Arsenal returned to the Champions League last season after six years of absence and left their mark, reaching the quarterfinals. This season, the team wants more, and so far it has been doing great. Arsenal is currently 3rd in the overall standings, just one point from 9th place.
Meanwhile, against the draws with Atalanta and narrow defeats against Inter, Arsenal secured impressive victories against PSG 2-0, Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0, Sporting 5-1, and Monaco 3-0. Arsenal has been running a little behind for several seasons in the English Premier League, swept by Liverpool this season. As the league is currently ranked 2nd, they just snapped a three-game winning streak with a 1-1 draw against Brighton. The upcoming matches against Tottenham and Aston Villa now look ominous.
Dinamo Zagreb sit 24th in the Champions League standings, one point above 25th place, which allows the team to dream of playoffs. This result is already a good outcome for a side that has picked up two wins in the group stage-to date, against Salzburg 2-0 and Slovan Bratislava 4-1. However, they suffered heavy defeats to Bayern Munich (9-2) and Dortmund (3-0) and played to draws with Monaco (2-2) and Celtic (0-0). In domestic competition, Dinamo Zagreb has dominated Croatian football with seven consecutive league titles, though they’ve been less dominant this season. A 3-2 win over Varazdin in December ended a run of three draws and two losses.
Arsenal will be deprived of services like Bukayo Saka, who has scored 5 goals and provided 10 assists in the Premier League and 4 goals with 2 assists in the Champions League, Gabriel Jesus, Ben White, Ethan Nwaneri, and long-term absentee Tomiyasu. The attack should be spearheaded by Kai Havertz, with 7 goals and 2 assists in the Premier League and 3 in the Champions League, supported by Gabriel Martinelli with 5 goals and 2 assists, Leandro Trossard with 3 goals and 2 assists, and playmaker Martin Ødegaard with 1 goal and 2 assists. The Gunners have been pretty tight in defence, having conceded only two goals in six Champions League matches with William Saliba and Gabriel at the back.
Dinamo Zagreb has problems as well, as midfielders Josip Mišić and Luka Su\rić, together with forward Bruno Petković, who had scored 3 goals and made 2 assists in the league, will not feature. The main creative force should be Martin Baturina, who has 1 goal and 5 assists in the league, backed up by striker Sandro Kulenović, who netted 8 goals in the league and 3 in the Champions League, and former Juventus player Marko Pjaca, who scored 4 goals domestically. The defensive lineup includes experienced players such as Kévin Théophile-Catherine and Ronaël Pierre-Gabriel.
Prediction
Dinamo Zagreb has really struggled on their travels in the Champions League, picking up just one point from their last 17 away from home, conceding 12 goals and scoring just three. Arsenal have won 12 of their last 18 home games in the top flight and are unbeaten in the current campaign. They will be expected to boss this game from the first minute and ultimately run out comfortable winners against their ailing opponents.
Predictions: Arsenal 2-0 Dinamo Zagreb
