Arsenal will guarantee their place in the last 16 of the Champions League on Wednesday night if they beat Dinamo Zagreb at the Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners have won four of their previous six games and despite their disappointing trip to Italy, they are close to securing a top eight spot in the opening round of Europe’s top competition. That means they head straight into the round of 16, avoiding a potentially demanding play-off clash.
Arsenal have won all three of their home matches in this year’s competition and will be strong favorites for the visit of Dynamo. The Croatian giants have bounced back somewhat from their 9-2 drubbing at the hands of them Bayern Munich during the first round of matches in the league stage, securing two wins and two draws from their next five outings to put them in the frame to qualify for the knockout stages.
Behold 90 minutes guide to a pivotal European conflict in north London.
Match results Arsenal – Dinamo Zagreb (all time)
Current form (all competitions)
|
Arsenal |
Dinamo Zagreb |
|---|---|
|
Arsenal 2-2 Aston Villa – 18/01/25 |
Dinamo Zagreb 3-2 Varazdin – 22/12/24 |
|
Arsenal 2-1 Tottenham – 15/01/25 |
Lokomotiv 3-1 Dinamo Zagreb – 14/12/24 |
|
Arsenal 1-1 (3-5p) Manchester United – 12/01/25 |
Dinamo Zagreb 0-0 Celtic – 24/10/12 |
|
Arsenal 0-2 Newcastle – 01/07/25 |
Dinamo Zagreb 1-1 Slaven – 24/12/06 |
|
Brighton 1-1 Arsenal – 01/04/25 |
Hajduk Split 1-0 Dinamo Zagreb – 01/12/24 |
|
Country |
TV channel/live stream |
|---|---|
|
United Kingdom |
TNT Sports 2, TNT Sports Ultimate, Discovery+, Discovery+ App |
|
United States |
Paramount+, ViX |
|
Canada |
DAZN Canada |
Mikel Arteta will be cursing his recent injury luck with William Saliba adding his name to an extensive absentee list. The Frenchman missed the weekend’s draw with Aston Villa due to a hamstring problem and he could be gone for several weeks at least.
Saliba joins teammates Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu in the treatment room, but Riccardo Calafiori is available again after overcoming an injury of his own.
Naturally, Bukayo Saka is still on the sidelines for the Gunners and they will miss their talisman’s creativity and ingenuity on Wednesday and beyond. Gabriel Jesus is out for the rest of the season with an ACL tear suffered in the third round of the FA Cup, but Ethan Nwaneri is fit again and should be part of the matchday squad.
Arsenal predicted line-up against Dinamo Zagreb (4-3-3): Riga? Wood, Gabriel, Calafiori, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Jorginho, Rice? Sterling, Havertz, Martinelli.
Former Golden Ball Winner Fabio Cannavaro has taken over at Dinamo and will oversee his first outing with the Croatian side on Wednesday. He will be aiming to make a positive impression on the club’s fans with a strong display in north London.
However, the Italian will be without sharpshooter Bruno Petkovic for Dynamo’s first competitive game of the calendar year, with the striker out with a muscle problem. He is joined by Petar Sucic on the sidelines.
Dinamo Zagreb predicted line-up against Arsenal (4-2-3-1): Nevistic? Ristovski, Theophile-Catherine, Mmaee, Pierre-Gabriel; Ademi, Stojkovic; Cordoba, Baturina, Pjaca; Kulenovic.
Arsenal’s perfect home record in Champions League should remain untainted by Dynamo’s visit to the Emirates. Even with a growing injury list plaguing Arteta’s squad options, they should find it a little difficult to send the team that almost conceded double figures to Bavaria in September.
Handing a two-goal lead to Villa on Saturday it wasn’t the most appropriate warm-up for Wednesday’s clash, but Arteta should be able to rest and rotate while also avoiding a slip. Dynamo may be rusty after having a long winter break and there may be problems at the start of Cannavaro’s reign which Arsenal can exploit.
Prediction: Arsenal 2-0 Dinamo Zagreb
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2025-01-22 06:00:00
