Oleksandr Zinchenko is just a substitute for Arsenal tonight. Nonetheless, this obviously remains a big night for the Ukrainian, who failed to break through at Shakhtar as a youngster but hasn’t fared too badly since then at Manchester City and Arsenal. He talks to Donald McRae about his career and the difficulty of following the war from abroad.

Mikel Arteta speaks to Amazon Prime. “No eye (on the upcoming game against Liverpool)… we had a great game against PSG and we will have another one… we are very excited about it… Saka was not able to complete a session the way we wanted… At the moment I’m not very hopeful (that he will be available for the Liverpool game)… I give my players a perspective… we haven’t lost a game in six months… now we have it, let’s react… we have options… In midfield and up front we have some good options… we have great understanding for Shakhtar… the difficult situation they are in… we welcome them in the best possible way… when it comes to the game we have to give our best.”

Shakhtar had to move from its hometown of Donetsk in 2014 due to the conflict between Ukraine and Russia, a fact that coach Marino Pušić points out in an interview with Amazon Prime: “It’s hard… facing all these challenges makes you stronger… we don’t complain… we are fighters… we came here to play… so let’s play football… we had a short time to prepare… eight and a half Hours later on the bus, then we drove here…every game is like an away game…we try to create a home feeling in Lviv, but it is far from a home feeling…we have to make it for ourselves…it has to come from within us come out… We want to show up and compete… whether we’re playing against Arsenal or Barcelona… we’ve got a pretty young squad… we’re improving every day… that’s the joy of my job… our hotel was completely destroyed… it could have been us .”

Pušić is also asked about his time working with new Liverpool coach Arne Slot at AZ Alkmaar. “We’ve had great success… he’s a great manager… I’m really happy for him and have no doubts… he’s ready for anything… his tactical skills and individual approach are excellent.”

This game, as mentioned in the preamble, has already been played twice. Here’s what happened in 2010…

…and that’s how it went in those sepia-toned days when MBMs were in their infancy and were as rare as a Martin Keown double, so it’s a clear match report you get for this game.

Gabriel Martinelli and Gabriel Jesus return to Arsenal after their 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth. Mikel Merino and Raheem Sterling drop to the bench. Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka and Jurriën Timber remain on the injured list. Should Kai Havertz score tonight, he would become the first player ever to score in eight consecutive games at the Emirates.

The teams

preamble