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Key occasions
45 min: Alvarez sends the ensuing free kick crusing harmlessly extensive proper. There shall be one minute of extra time.
44 min: Rice clips Le Normand from behind because the Atleti defender brings down a excessive ball 30 yards from the Arsenal objective. Having lately clattered Llorente additional upfield, he’s barely lucky not to enter the e-book. One other one could check the referee’s persistence.
42 min: A slight sense of frustration within the crowd now, with Arsenal not as dominant as they had been throughout the early exchanges.
40 min: Eze and Rice busy themselves down the left flank however Atleti maintain their form and the transfer peters out.
38 min: Zubimendi is booked for his third cynical nibble from behind in as many minutes. Which means he’ll be suspended for Arsenal’s subsequent Champions League fixture at Slavia Prague.
Martinelli objective disallowed
36 min: Saka dribbles into the field from the appropriate. He will get previous Giménez with ease and fires a low cross into the six-yard field. Martinelli turns house on the far submit, however he’s gone manner too early and is clearly offside. Up goes the flag.
35 min: Saka takes the ensuing free kick. He pulls it again for Zubimendi, who floats a chip into the field. It’s simply cleared. An intricate training-ground transfer that didn’t come off.
33 min: Gyökeres steams down the appropriate, knocks the ball previous Giménez, then runs slap-bang into him. A cynical block that earns the Atleti participant the primary reserving of the sport.
31 min: The nook’s a waste of everybody’s time.
30 min: Gyökeres goes over within the Atleti field, claiming to have been wrestled to the ground by Gimenez. VAR has a have a look at a possible penalty, however there’s nothing in it, and nothing doing. Arsenal have pressured a nook, although, which Saka will now ship in.
28 min: Alvarez takes down a ball within the centre circle, then spins and powers round Gabriel. He flies all the best way to the sting of the Arsenal field, by which era Gabriel has recovered some floor and Saliba has come over to assist. Alvarez can’t get a shot away in time, and the prospect is gone. Arsenal’s centre-back pairing did nicely to cope with that scenario.
26 min: Timber has a whack from distance. Much less whack, extra dribble. Simple for Oblak.
25 min: Raya comes out of his field on the Atleti proper, within the hope of ushering a misplaced Atleti go out for a objective kick. However there’s not sufficient tempo on the ball, and Simeone nips in to steal it off him. Raya does sufficient to dam the ball out for a throw, however as he’s trotting again, Simeone takes a fast throw to Alvarez, who steers a shot from the appropriate touchline in the direction of the unguarded objective. Arsenal – and significantly Raya – are extraordinarily lucky that the ball bounces extensive left. Practically a calamitous error by Raya.
23 min: Saka robs Barrios on the midway line and for a second the break appears to be like on. However Saka is surprisingly sluggish to take off, and Barrios comes again at him to nick the ball away.
22 min: Atleti ping it round at excessive pace, avoiding the Arsenal press however going nowhere particularly. Each groups have discovered their ft and are nicely on this sport now.
20 min: Oblak is okay to proceed.
19 min: Eze, dropping deep, releases Saka down the inside-right channel with a forensic go. Saka enters the field and tries to flip a shot over Oblak, however the keeper spreads nicely to dam. Oblak takes a knock on the knee for his hassle. Play stops whereas he will get checked over.
17 min: Arsenal have loved 55 p.c of possession to this point. Their followers sound content material: an excited buzz at any time when Saka will get the ball, appreciative/supportive applause when Gyökeres – 9 video games with no objective for membership and nation – presses enthusiastically.
15 min: Timber and Saka mix crisply down the appropriate. The latter’s shot is blocked. Rice and Eze shuttle the ball left for Lewis-Skelly, who whistles a low drive throughout the face of objective and extensive proper. The Atleti defence at sixes and sevens for a second.
13 min: Llorente dribbles rigorously down the appropriate earlier than lastly sending in a cross that’s deflected up and into the arms of Raya.
11 min: Hancko tries to launch Sorloth down the left however Saliba glides throughout to shepherd the ball out for a objective kick. Arsenal wanting assured at each ends of the park.
9 min: Saka skins Hancko down the appropriate and dinks a cross into the center. It’s half cleared, however the in-rushing Gabriel can’t join correctly with a shot from the sting of the D and the guests can clear their strains. It’s been a enjoyable opening.
7 min: … however then Sørloth breaks into house down the center. As he prepares to launch Simeone down the inside-right channel, Lewis-Skelly cynically checks the supervisor’s son. That’s a foul within the skilled type, and Lewis-Skelly actually ought to go into the e-book – as Simeone Sr., leaping round on the touchline, suggests. However the referee’s protecting his playing cards in his pocket for now. Each groups have gotten away with one.
6 min: It’s been a extremely brilliant begin by Arsenal. Atleti are struggling to get out of their remaining third.
Eze hits the bar
5 min: Eze takes a speculative shot from 25 yards. The ball twangs off Hancko and sails on an absurd parabola over Oblak, who’s stranded. The ball pings off the crossbar as an alternative of nestling into the highest left. It drops to Rice, who ought to slot the rebound however balloons it over the bar.
3 min: Timber chases after a go down the inside-right channel however can’t maintain the ball in play earlier than crossing. However Arsenal are quickly coming again at Atleti, Timber rolling the ball down the identical channel within the hope of releasing Saka. The Arsenal males aren’t on the identical wavelength and that’s one other objective kick.
2 min: Arsenal begin the night as they presumably intend to go on, stroking the ball round patiently. Koke will get fed up and clips Zubimendi on the shin, and doubtless ought to go into the e-book, but it surely’s early and you understand how referees roll. A few statements of intent there, maybe.
Arsenal get the ball rolling. Noise bounces across the Emirates.
The groups are out! Arsenal put on their storied pink shirts with white sleeves, forcing Atlético out of their very own well-known mattress-inspired tops. The guests as an alternative sport second-choice purple with [MBM hack unfolds marketing release, adjusts pince-nez, performs brief double-take] “thunder-and-lightning-inspired aspect panels … embodying the daring and rebellious angle of Atlético Madrid.” Effectively then. We’ll be off in a minute or two.
There’s already been one skirmish between the 2 golf equipment. Final night time Atleti skilled on the Emirates, as per Uefa laws, however needed to wait till they returned to their resort for his or her post-exercise ablutions, on account of there being no sizzling water within the stadium dressing rooms. Spanish paper Marca reported that Atleti had been “offended”, however whereas it’s scrumptious to think about the hosts openly working performs from the John Beck e-book of dressing-room pranks simply to push Diego Simeone’s buttons, Arsenal had been in actual fact embarrassed and later formally apologised to their friends for the inconvenience.
Atleti striker Julián Alvarez speaks to Amazon. “We all know they’re an important crew … it is going to be a really troublesome sport … however we are going to do no matter we are able to to win the sport … it was nice to listen to [Pep Guardiola recently praise him] … however now I’m with one other nice coach [in Diego Simeone] … you might be at all times studying with the most effective managers on the earth … as a participant in addition to an individual.”
Mikel Arteta – relaxed, completely satisfied, issues going swimmingly – speaks to Amazon Prime. “Consistency and efficiency and outcomes [make me happy] … we’ve got an enormous one tonight … we want some freshness … [Diego Simeone] is a super-competitive supervisor … the crew have been on the prime in Europe for a few years … we are going to strive our greatest … as we speak’s sport can have lots of micro-games throughout the sport … we should cope with lots of completely different conditions … make certain we are able to cope with that … we all know what we’re doing however there are nonetheless issues we’ve got to enhance as a crew and individually … as we speak is a fantastic sport we’ve got to play.”
♩♬♭ One-nil to the Ars-e-nal, one-nil to the Ars-e-nal … ♬ ♪ ♫ Mikel Arteta’s aspect have but to concede in Europe, and have solely shipped three objectives to this point within the Premier League. It’s bringing again reminiscences of heady days below the legendary George Graham, and Arsenal’s present boss isn’t in any respect unsettled by the comparability. David Hytner studies.
Arsenal make two adjustments to the XI that began the 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday night. One on the again, one up entrance. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel Martinelli are available for Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard, each of whom drop to the bench.
The groups
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Eze, Zubimendi, Rice, Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Setford, Mosquera, White, Hincapie, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Merino, Calafiori.
Atlético Madrid: Oblak, Le Normand, Gimenez, Hancko, Llorente, Koke, Barrios, Gonzalez, Simeone, Alvarez, Sorloth.
Subs: Musso, Ruggeri, Gallagher, Griezmann, Baena, Almada, Martin, Lenglet, Molina, Pubill, Galan, Raspadori.
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy).
Preamble
Two of the largest golf equipment by no means to have received the European Cup meet tonight in north London. May this be the 12 months {that a} unusual flawed is righted? Very presumably: Arsenal are presently joint second favourites to win this version of the Champions League, whereas Atlético Madrid are often there or thereabouts. So this qualifies as a correct heavyweight conflict.
The golf equipment have solely met as soon as earlier than, within the Europa League semi-finals in 2018. Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa did for Arsenal as Atleti received the tie 2-1 on combination, en path to profitable the trophy. In order that’s within the Colchoneros’ favour. Alternatively, Arsenal have received six in a row towards Spanish groups, dropping simply one among their final 14 house video games towards guests from Spain, whereas Atleti have received simply one among their final 9 towards English sides. So all of that very a lot favours the Gunners.
However each groups will fancy it. Arsenal are on a five-game profitable run, sitting fairly atop the Premier League, whereas Atleti haven’t tasted defeat since dropping 3-2 at Liverpool final month, an unbeaten run that’s taken in a 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt and a 5-2 thumping of crosstown rivals Actual Madrid. It’s a correct heavyweight conflict all proper. It kicks off at 8pm UK time. It’s on!