Lautaro Martinez was deadly in the Champions League last season, netting nine goals across his 10 starts in the competition as Inter reached the final.

He’s continued this positive form in the Champions League this term with four goals across his five starts in the competition, with the Argentinian posting some promising shot numbers across those matches.

Martinez has had 20 shots across his five starts in the Champions League this term (5.41 per 90) with 10 of those efforts finding the target (2.70 per 90). He scored at the weekend against Udinese, a goal that proved to be a crucial winner for Inter in their bid to claim the Scudetto this season.

Martinez is also nearly matching his xG of 4.27 in the Champions League, suggesting that he’s putting chances away at a decent rate, and his shot volume would further indicate that his team-mates are finding him in space regularly.

Martinez has netted 11 goals across his 19 starts in Serie A this term, a tally achieved from a shot volume of 4.09 shots per 90, with the Argentine registering an average of 1.59 shots on target per 90 in the Italian top-flight this term.

Nicolo Barella is one of the most underrated midfielders in Europe, and carries an aggressive streak which is advantageous for our selection here. Barella has committed seven fouls across his four starts in the Champions League this term (1.78 per 90), and should be in line to commit at least one foul in this contest.

Barella has committed a further 21 fouls across his 19 starts in Serie A this term, working out to an average of 1.18 fouls committed per 90. It isn’t totally surprising to see a rise in his average when playing in the Champions League. Inter don’t have as much control in their games in the Champions League compared to their domestic assignments, so their games in Europe demand a lot more from their players when out of possession.

Barella’s main opponent here is likely to be Eberechi Eze, who has a bit of a point to prove, having been nearly frozen out by Mikel Arteta following his mistake against Aston Villa. Eze has won 20 fouls across his 12 starts in the Premier League this term (1.76 per 90).

Inter have won four of their six games in the Champions League this term, netting 12 goals across those matches (2.0 per game) - setting the home side up nicely to find the back of the net in this clash. There is no doubt that Arsenal are the best defensive side in Europe, though I doubt that Mikel Arteta will go full strength here with the context surrounding the fixture.

Arsenal’s 0-0 draw against Forest at the weekend has made their home clash against Manchester United at the weekend a massive game, and one that Arteta is likely to prioritise with Arsenal pretty much qualified for the next round of the Champions League. Topping the league phase doesn’t necessarily guarantee an easier opponent in the knockout stages, as we saw with Liverpool last season, so this isn’t likely to be a massive focus for the Gunners.

As well as netting 12 goals across their six Champions League matches this term, Inter are also the top scorers by some distance in Serie A with 44 goals across their 21 matches (2.09 per game). Cristian Chivu has made Inter a very exciting side to watch, and I think they’ll continue to be effective in front of goal here against an Arsenal side that are likely to have other priorities.

Inter have registered 4+ corners in all six of their matches in the Champions League so far, with five of those games seeing Inter register 5+ corners. They’ve covered this line against the likes of Atletico Madrid and Liverpool, with Cristian Chivu’s side likely to have enough of a presence in the final third to cover this corner line against the current Premier League leaders.

Inter are averaging 6.90 corners per game across their 21 matches in Serie A this term, with this average notably rising to 8.00 corners per game when Inter are playing at home. No side win more corners per game at home than Inter in the Italian top-flight this term, so it is a strong part of their game and a possible avenue that they could use to unlock Arsenal here, with the Gunners being very strong at limiting chances from open play.

Arsenal are conceding 3.73 corners per game in the Premier League this season, which is a record that Inter can force to rise with how strong they are when it comes to winning corners, particularly when playing in front of their home fans.

Martinelli only has one goal to his name in the Premier League this season, but has been more effective in the Champions League with six goal contributions across just three starts in the competition (five goals, one assist). He’s been incredibly clinical in the competition, with his five-goal tally coming from an xG of just 2.82.

This is already Martinelli’s best goal haul in the Champions League of his career, with the Brazilian only netting two goals in each of his two previous campaigns for the Gunners. He’s been effective in other competitions away from the Premier League as well, with Martinelli recently scoring a hat-trick in Arsenal’s FA Cup triumph over Portsmouth.

That three-goal haul takes Martinelli’s overall goal contribution count to 10 across 26 appearances in all competitions. His effectiveness in the Champions League is notable, with no Arsenal player managing to score more goals than Martinelli in Europe’s premier competition so far this season.

Mkhitaryan has been cautioned in each of his two previous appearances in the Champions League, with those yellow cards coming against Liverpool and Ajax. He’s an important player for Inter in the middle of the park, despite being 36 years of age.

Mkhitaryan has picked up a further two cautions across his nine starts in Serie A this term, indicating that the former Manchester United, Arsenal and Dortmund midfielder has a very clear role in this Inter side.

He picked up three cautions across his 10 starts as Inter reached the final of the competition last season, so he’s already within one card of his tally from last term despite only playing two games so far.

Inter have picked up at least one card in all six of their Champions League matches this term, and the referee for this encounter is Joao Pinheiro, who is averaging 4.31 yellow cards per game across all his appointments in various competitions this season.

Bastoni is one of the best centre backs in Europe, but he is incredibly aggressive and will line up on the side of Bukayo Saka in this clash. The Italian centre back has committed 32 fouls across his 18 appearances in Serie A this term (1.83 per 90), suggesting that he won’t shy away from the challenge of Bukayo Saka in this clash.

Bastoni has committed a further eight fouls across his five appearances in the Champions League this season (1.72 per 90), and can be tempted into committing a few more fouls in this clash by the trickery and skill of Bukayo Saka.

The Arsenal winger has won three fouls across his three appearances in the Champions League (0.95 per 90), though that isn’t truly reflective of Saka’s ability when it comes to winning fouls with the 24-year-old averaging 2.28 fouls won per 90 in the Premier League this term.

Furthermore, Bastoni has Federico Dimarco playing ahead of him as a wing back which is notable as Dimarco is not a good 1v1 defender. This should see Bastoni regularly offer support to Dimarco, who is almost guaranteed to lose out in a 1v1 battle against Saka.