[Preview] Facing Atletico Madrid in the Champions League, is Arsenal better prepared with more injuries?

Sports Weekly Full Media Report

The league returned last weekend, and the Champions League will be the battlefield in the middle of this week. The top players in Europe are competing non-stop, and it is time to test their endurance and resilience. There are 9 duels tonight, including Barcelona, ​​Atletico Madrid, Arsenal, Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Inter Milan. Most of them are against opponents who are not as good as themselves, but there is also one top-level duel: the Gunners face Atletico Madrid at home.

Historically, there is not much grudge between Arsenal and Atletico Madrid. There were only two previous encounters between the two sides in the European War, both in the Europa League semi-finals in the 2017-18 season. That year, Simeone's team first won a 1-1 draw on the away road with 10 men, and then won 1-0 at home, eventually knocking out the Gunners and taking the advantage of the historical confrontation. However, times have changed, and although Simeone is still the coach of Atletico Madrid, Arsenal is no longer the team it was back then. Under Spaniard Arteta, the Gunners have become the "La Liga killers", achieving 6 kills against Sevilla, Girona, Real Madrid and Athletic Bilbao in the past three seasons.

If Arsenal beats Atletico Madrid again, it will be a 7-game winning streak against La Liga teams, and the "longest winning streak against Spanish opponents" in the Champions League history just created by them will be refreshed. Pre-match predictions tend to favor the Gunners. According to Opta's supercomputer simulation, Arsenal's probability of winning at home is as high as 58%, while Atletico Madrid's probability of taking all 3 points away is only 19.3%. The remaining 22.7% of simulation results are a draw.

However, the deduction is just a deduction. The actual result will depend on the on-the-spot performance of the two teams. Judging from last weekend's performance, many of the Gunners' main players were clearly suffering from "international match day sequelae". They were not excited enough on the court and seemed tired - this fatigue may not be physical, but may also be mental. It was under this circumstance that Arsenal worked hard to win a 1-0 away victory against Fulham. They hardly created any absolute chances in sports battles, and relied on corner kicks to break the game.

If this feeling of fatigue does not disappear soon but continues, it will be very dangerous for Arsenal. But generally speaking, the "FIFA virus" is a trouble that is difficult for any strong team to avoid, and their opponents are no exception. At least judging from the results last weekend, Atletico Madrid is indeed no better than the Gunners. They also won a small victory 1-0. Their home opponent was Osasuna in the bottom half of La Liga. At the same time, they did not rest their main players on a large scale.

Regarding injuries, Arsenal will still lack Odegaard, Havertz and Madueke, but the good news is that new aid Inkapier is finally ready to debut. The 23-year-old left-footed defender came on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in the summer window and has been away from the game list due to injury issues. For Atletico Madrid, he may not play a big role, but having one more choice will bring more peace of mind. Atletico Madrid's lineup is relatively complete, and only midfielder Johnny Cardoso is missing from the squad for the Premier League.

It is worth mentioning that after arriving in London, Atletico Madrid encountered an unexpected "extra-game": after training on the field, the visiting team was unable to take a hot shower in the locker room of the Emirates Stadium due to equipment failure. This incident was not intentional on the part of the Gunners, because there was also a problem with the bath water in the home team's locker room, but I don't know if it would have some impact on the psychology of Atletico Madrid players. In addition, there is an interesting tidbit in the preparations for this campaign: last weekend, central defender Saliba watched the live broadcast of the Atletico Madrid game on the team bus and studied the opponent alone in advance. This move was also praised by coach Arteta: "I am very happy because I did not encourage it. It was spontaneous by the players. I like their initiative."

The third round of the Champions League stage will face

00:45 Barcelona vs Olympiakos

00:45 Almaty Kairat vs Paphos

03:00 Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid

03:00 Leverkusen vs Paris Saint-Germain

03:00 Copenhagen vs Dortmund

03:00 Newcastle United vs Benfica

03:00 Eindhoven vs Napoli

03:00 St. Gilles United vs. Inter Milan

03:00 Villarreal vs. Manchester City