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Atalanta v Arsenal
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Kick Off: Thursday 19th September at 20:00
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Competition: Champions League
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Watch Live: TNT Sports 1
Arsenal will be aiming to hit the ground running in this season’s Champions League when they face Atalanta at the Gewiss Stadium on Thursday night.
Mikel Arteta’s side will be looking to improve on last year’s effort in Europe, having been eliminated at the quarter-final stage by Bayern Munich. As for Atalanta, they are back at European football’s top table for the first time in three years thanks to their Europa League triumph last season.
The Bergamo-based outfit go into their maiden Champions League assignment of the season as 3.8 underdogs, while Arsenal are 1.85 favourites.
Atalanta v Arsenal Best Bets
➡️ Over 1.5 Arsenal @ 1.83 on Betfair
➡️ Marten de Roon to commit 2+ fouls @ 1.80 on Betfair
Atalanta have been conceding goals at an alarming rate in recent weeks, making Arsenal an appealing option to score over 1.5 goals on Thursday night at 1.8. Gasperini’s side have shipped eight goals across their last three Serie A matches, conceding multiple strikes on each occasion. The Italian’s backline was also breached twice during last month’s Super Cup Final defeat to Real Madrid. While Arsenal have not been scoring freely over the opening four weeks of the Premier League season, they have struck in each of their four assignments thus far, including two away from home against Aston Villa. Atalanta are well-renowned for being an attack-minded team that is willing to commit men forward but that should present the Gunners with plenty of opportunities to put their hosts to the sword.
Hard-hitting Atalanta midfielder Marten de Roon stands out to commit two or more fouls on Thursday night at 1.8. The Dutch midfielder has been a serial offender throughout his career, and he has certainly been on the referee’s radar this season. de Roon has committed a combined total of 11 fouls across his four Serie A matches this season, giving away multiple free-kicks in each of those contests. On top of this, the Dutch midfield destroyer fell foul of the referee twice against Real Madrid in the Super Cup final. He will likely be up against Thomas Partey here, who has been fouled six times across his four Premier League appearances this season.
📂 Atalanta v Arsenal Cheat Sheet
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📊 Atalanta Form and Stats
Atalanta have made a mixed start to the new Serie A season, winning two and losing two of their opening four matches of the campaign. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side made a flying start to the season with a 4-0 win away at Lecce but they were then brought back down to earth with a bump when losing their subsequent two games away at both Torino and Inter Milan, the latter of which saw them on the wrong end of a 4-0 reverse. However, La Dea bounced back from that bruising setback at the San Siro with a thrilling 3-2 win over Fiorentina on Sunday. It was a close-fought encounter at the Gewiss Stadium at the weekend, with the shot count ending up at 13 apiece, while Atalanta edged the possession stats with 51%.
Atalanta rubbed shoulders with one of Europe’s elite sides last month when contesting the UEFA Super Cup Final with Real Madrid. The Spanish giants ran out relatively comfortable 2-0 winners on the night, winning the shot count 13-7 and registering six on-target efforts in comparison to the Italian’s two. Another point to note from that clash was the fact that Atalanta committed 19 fouls. Furthermore, they gave away 15 free-kicks in their aforementioned 4-0 loss at Inter Milan, suggesting that they won’t hesitate to use the games dark arts in an attempt to fend off star-studded opposition.
Mateo Retegui has made an immediate impact for Atalanta following his move from Genoa during the summer. The Italy international has notched four times in as many games in Serie A this season, a goal return that means he is currently the joint-top scorer in the division.
Ademola Lookman – who was the hero of Atalanta’s Europa League final triumph last season – was in fine form during his side’s 3-2 win over Fiorentina on Sunday. The Nigerian ace scored with one of his five attempts on goal and he also registered an assist for good measure.
📊 Arsenal Form and Stats
Arsenal kept themselves on the coattails of Premier League leaders Man City as Gabriel Magalhaes’ goal earned them a hard-fought 1-0 win at fierce rivals Tottenahm on Sunday. The Gunners’ North London derby triumph was made all the more impressive by the fact that they were able to claim top honours without key midfielders Declan Rice and Martin Odegaard.
That victory means Mikel Arteta’s men have banked maximum points from three of their opening four Premier League games of the season, conceding just one goal along the way.
Arsenal have yet to concede a goal across their two away games this season so far, and they will be looking to carry that defensive solidity into this year’s new look Champions League. Arteta’s side failed to silence their opponents in each of their five continental contests away from their Emirates base last season, winning just once and losing on three occasions in the process.
Kai Havertz ended last season in fine form for Arsenal and he has picked up from where he left off across the opening weeks of the new campaign. The German forward has scored two goals and set up another in four Premier League appearances so far, and he was also on target during Germany’s 5-0 win over Hungary in the Nations League earlier this month,
Havertz also isn’t afraid to do the dirty work when required, highlighted by the fact that he has committed eight fouls across his four top-flight appearances for Arsenal this term.
After setting up Arsenal’s winning goal against Tottenham last time out, Bukayo Saka kept up his remarkable record of providing an assist in each of the Gunners’ four Premier League games this season.
⚔️ Atalanta v Arsenal Head-to-Head
Atalanta and Arsenal will come up against each other for the first time on Thursday night. Gian Piero Gasperini’s side have crossed paths with English opposition in two of their last three Champions League campaigns. La Dea were housed in the same group as Manchester United in 2021/22, losing 3-2 at Old Trafford before playing out a 2-2 draw in a reverse fixture in Italy. More recently, the Italians recorded a famous victory over Liverpool en-route to winning last season’s Europa League, so they won’t be fazed by the task in hand when taking on Arsenal.
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* All odds displayed correct at the time of publishing.
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