Preview

October 22, London, Emirates Stadium, 22:00
The live broadcast: Megogo

History and path to the UCL

Arsenal is a club from north London founded in October 1886. During their history, the team became the champions of England 13 times (the last time was 20 years ago), won 16 domestic Cups and 17 Super Cups. The club's only major European success was winning the Cup Winners' Cup (1994), and the Gunners were also the winners in the Fairs Cup (1970), the Champions League finalists (2006) and the UEFA Cup / Europa League finalists (2000, 2019). Last season, the London-based team took the Community Shield trophy, but remained without more significant ones: they were relegated in the early stages of the English Cups, lost in the Champions League quarter-finals to Bayern Munchen, finished second in the EPL with 89 points (the second most in the club's history), losing to the champions by just 2 points.

Squad and leaders

Mikel Arteta has been Arsenal head coach since December 2019. Under his leadership, the club has shown progress every season and fell just short of the title in the last two championships, winning three cup trophies in the process. The captain of the Gunners is Norwegian Martin Ødegaard, who is currently injured. The team's main goalkeeper is Spaniard David Raya with no alternative available. Frenchman William Saliba, Brazilian Gabriel and Italian Riccardo Calafiori, a newcomer to the club, are considered to be the leading defenders in the current season. Declan Rice and Thomas Partey are almost indispensable in the midfield, while the Londoners' attacking power comes from Bukayo Saka (last season's top scorer, with 3 goals and 7 assists this season), Gabriel Martinelli (2 goals and 2 assists) and the team's top scorer at this moment Kai Havertz (6 goals scored). It should be noted that Oleksandr Zinchenko, the midfielder of the Ukraine national team, has been playing for Arsenal since 2022, but due to an injury this season, he made only 2 appearances for the London side.

Start of the 2024/25 season

In the Champions League, Arsenal started with a draw in the away match against Atalanta (0-0), defeating PSG at home in the second round through the goals from Havertz and Saka (2-0). The Gunners are in the third spot in the English Premier League after 8 rounds, having earned 17 points (goal difference: 15-8). Last Saturday, the six-month unbeaten streak of the London-based outfit in all competitions, which lasted from mid-April, was interrupted when Bournemouth (0-2) inflicted the first defeat of the season on Mikel Arteta's team.

Stadium

Arsenal's home arena is the Emirates Stadium, opened on October 26, 2006. The total cost of construction was GBP 390 million. The stadium is built next to the legendary Highbury, but has a much larger capacity (60,704 spectators) and is considered one of the best in England.

Head-to-head record

Shakhtar and Arsenal played 4 matches in the UEFA Champions League group stage. In the 2000/01 season, when the Pitmen made their debut in the tournament, the teams exchanged victories: first, in an epic battle at Highbury, the Gunners came back from 0-2 and won 3 points (3-2), however in Donetsk, the Miners took a convincing revenge, defeating the famous opponents (3-0). In the 2010/11 season, there were home victories as well: the London-based side proved stronger at their stadium (5-1), but the Orange-and-Blacks won at the Donbas Arena (2-1).

The Arsenal vs Shakhtar match will be officiated by the judging panel from France: referee Benoit Bastien, assistants Hisham Zarkani and Aurelien Berthomieu. VAR referee Benoit Millot.