Arsenal will welcome Croatian side Zagreb to the emirates on Wednesday night to complete their champions league campaign.
The Gunners have only been out-performed by Liverpool and Barcelona in this season’s league phase so far, while their Croatian visitors sit just inside the unseeded playoff positions and are now under the wing of a World Cup-winning captain.
After Arsenal ended their lengthy exile from Europe’s top table, Champions League matches at the Emirates Stadium have provided the Gunners with safe haven, having not been beaten once on home soil in the competition since their Bayern Munich humiliation in 2017.
In fact, the 2-2 draw with the Bavarian giants in last season’s quarter-final first leg remains the only time that Arsenal have conceded at home in the Champions League under head coach Arteta who has overseen a trio of North London successes with three clean sheets to boot in 2024-25.
The sixth matchday of the league phase saw the Gunners stroll to a home winover Ligue 1 giants Monaco, leaving them in pole position on 13 points from a possible 18, although all outcomes are still possible for Arteta’s men ahead of the penultimate matchday.
However, victory in midweek could not only guarantee Arsenal a playoff place at the very worst, but also earn them a slice of club history; having also thumped Sporting Lisbon 5-1 before hitting Monaco for three without reply, the hosts could win three successive Champions League/European Cup games by at least three goals for the first time ever.
While Arsenal’s home exploits in Europe’s premier competition are to be applauded, Wednesday’s visitors Dinamo Zagreb have clinched their only two wins of the league phase so far away from home, seeing off Red Bull Salzburg and Slovan Bratislava after their 9-2 embarrassment at Bayern Munich.
However, home has not been where the heart is for the Croatian giants over the past couple of months, as their 3-0 loss at the hands of Borussia Dortmund preceded a goalless contest with Celtic on December 10, failing to score from 16 attempts across those two showdowns.
Nevertheless, the side now managed by Italy legend Cannavaro are just about clinging onto the 24th and final knockout spot with eight points to their name, one better off than Paris Saint-Germain and Stuttgart, but they are lacking competitive match practice ahead of the midweek trip to London.
Indeed, Dinamo Zagreb have not yet made their domestic return from their Christmas break and have only taken to the field for a pair of friendly games so far in 2025, securing a 3-1 success away to Polish outfit Lech Poznan before a 1-1 stalemate at Jagiellonia Bialystok.
Bet Builder for the game :
The side ranked third in their league had gone winless in seven straight games before ending 2024 with a 3-2 success over Varazdin, and both of their previous visits to the Emirates have ended in defeat, including a 3-0 group-stage loss in 2015 where Sanchez scored a brace.
