Champions League football returns to Emirates Stadium for the first time in 2025 with a visit from Dinamo Zagreb, and a win could see us book our spot in the last 16.
Three points would take us up to 16 and could mathematically secure a bye to that stage, and our home form in the competition since the start of last season has been solid. No side has won more home Champions League matches than our seven, while no-one has kept more than our seven clean sheets.
Dinamo arrive on these shores for their first competitive game in a month due to the Croatian league’s winter break, and a new manager in Fabio Cannavaro. With just two friendly matches to oversee his new squad, the Italian legend will be hoping he can inspire his side to a third-straight away win in the Champions League, which has given them a chance of reaching the play-off round.
Dinamo's Domestic disarray
Having won the last seven league titles, Dinamo have an uphill climb to make that eight in 2025. They are on their third manager of the campaign, and languish in third spot in the top-flight, seven points off the lead after winning just one of their last six matches.
Cannavaro was appointed last month to try and turn things around and secure a passage into the knockout stages of the Champions League. A humiliating club record 9-2 loss against Bayern Munich in their opening match cost Sergej Jakirovic his job, and while Nenad Bjelica struggled domestically, he managed to get some strong performances out of his side in Europe.
Dinamo head into this matchweek clinging onto the 24th and final qualifying spot in the table with eight points to their name. Only a last-minute penalty denied them a win against Monaco, before victories on their travels to Salzburg and Slovan Bratislava. A 3-0 loss to Borussia Dortmund followed, before holding Celtic to a goalless draw in their last continental outing.
What the managers say
Arteta: "So far we’ve done really well, we’re in a really strong position and now it’s time to capitalise at home on the work we’ve done for many months. We need a strong performance against a really strong side and we will try to do that.
"[Zagreb] have a lot of talent. They have some individuals that catch your eye because you have in your head all of the players that play in that club and what they’ve done in the past. It’s always a good league and a great club to follow."
Cannavaro: "“Mikel has now been the manager in this club since four or five years ago. Of course, I hope he will achieve all the trophies, because he deserves a lot of things.”
Team news
William Saliba will miss this game having sat out Saturday’s 2-2 draw with Aston Villa with a hamstring issue, while Riccardo Calafiori has missed the last three matches with a muscular injury and continues to be monitored.
Bukayo Saka (hamstring), Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Jesus (all knee) and Ethan Nwaneri (groin) remain on the sidelines.
Reigning Croatian Footballer of the Year Bruno Petkovic has missed both of Dinamo’s recent friendlies because of a groin problem and won’t be available to lead the attack, while promising defensive midfielder Petar Sucic, who recently broke into the national side, also sat out those games.
Defenders Sadegh Moharrami and Mauro Perkovic weren’t registered for this stage of the competition due to injury and despite being fit again are still ineligible, as are recent signings Niko Galesic and Bartol Franjic.
Talking tactics
Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: Cannavaro has previously been criticised for adopting a defensive style, but that was also a strength when he took over at Udinese on an interim basis last April. In his six matches in charge, the side were well-organised, conceding only five goals.
He has tended to favour a 3-5-2 formation which would fit in well with Zagreb, who have deployed a back three in four of their six Champions League fixtures. Averaging just 37% of the ball in this competition, they absorb pressure inside their half before launching well-timed counter-attacks. Three of their 10 goals in the league phase have stemmed from fast breaks, the most so far.
Including the qualifying round, Dinamo have scored at least twice in all four European away matches, so their counter-attacking style feels better suited on their travels. They offer a threat from the wide areas, especially down the right where full-back Stefan Ristovski [above] and winger Dario Spikic operate.
Against top-class opposition though, Dinamo’s defending has come up short. Pulled out of position too easily when facing quality movement, they have struggled to stem the tide of chances opponents have created. Defending corners has also been problematic, and the Croatians have conceded multiple goals from those situations.
Facts and stats
We have won our last two Champions League matches by three or more goals. We’ve never done so in three European Cup games in a row, while in major European competitions, we’ve only done this once – in four games in a row in 2020/21 in the Europa League.
No Croatian team has ever won away from home against an English side in the European Cup or Champions League, with all four of those previous attempts being by Dinamo Zagreb.
In nine major European away matches in England, Dinamo have only won once (D2 L6), beating West Ham 1-0 in the Europa League in December 2021.
In their first four Champions League games this season, Zagreb netted 10 goals from 42 shots, but they have failed to score with any of their 16 shots in their last two games.
Dinamo have won their last two Champions League away games, winning more games and the same number of points as they did in their first 25 away matches in the competition. They’ve netted eight goals in three away games this season, only two fewer than they managed across their eight previous campaigns in the competition (10).
Only Borussia Dortmund’s Jamie Gittens (4) has scored more away Champions League goals this season than Zagreb’s Sandro Kulenovic (3).
We are one of only two sides yet to concede an open-play goal in this season’s competition, along with Inter Milan.
As well as being one of three teams who haven’t scored via a set piece in this season’s Champions League, Dinamo have shipped the most set-piece goals (7).
Match officials
German referee Daniel Siebert takes charge of this game, who has been a Bundeliga referee since 2012 and two years later was added to the FIFA list. A part-time teacher, he refereed at Euro 2020, the 2022 World Cup and Euro 2024.
His only previous Arsenal game was a 3-1 victory at Olympiakos in the Europa League last 16 back in March 2021. He has refereed 23 matches in all competitions this season, issuing just over five yellows a game, while he has awarded nine penalties and sent off six players.
Referee: Daniel Siebert (GER)
Assistants: Jan Seidel, Rafael Foltyn (GER)
Fourth official: Daniel Schlager (GER)
VAR: Christian Dingert (GER)
Assistant VAR: Bram Van Driessche (BEL)
Previous encounters
We have twice been drawn against Dinamo in the Champions League. Our first encounters came in 2006/07 qualifiers, and we secured a 3-0 success in Croatia with Cesc Fabregas bagging a brace, either side of a Robin van Persie goal. In the first-ever European game at Emirates Stadium, future Gunner Eduardo pulled one back before Freddie Ljungberg and Mathieu Flamini turned things around against a Zagreb side boasting a young Luka Modric.
Nine years later we met in the group stages, and Dinamo beat an English side for the first time in the competition with a 2-1 home win, on a night when Olivier Giroud was sent off. But we came back with a 3-0 success two months later when Alexis Sanchez netted twice and Mesut Ozil also got on the scoresheet.
Live coverage
You can watch our Live from N5 match preview show on our YouTube channel from 18.45 (UK time), when Nicole Holliday and Jeremie Aliadiere will pitchside to give you a flavour of another big European night.
The first-team squad and our supporters take on our Question of the Day, while they've got the best bits from social media from across the weekend. Adrian Clarke will bring you a guide to what to expect from Dinamo Zagreb, before he joins Dan Robuck on commentary from 10 minutes before kick-off, which will be live on Arsenal.com and the official app.
You can also find out which broadcaster is showing the action live wherever you are in the world.
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