UEFA Champions League leaders Arsenal conclude their European campaign by hosting last-placed Kairat Almaty at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night.
Having sealed their top-two spot after defeating Internazionale 3-1 at the San Siro last week, Mikel Arteta's side will be looking to complete the league phase with a 100% record to seal top spot. Arsenal come into the game on the back of a disappointing defeat to Manchester United, which saw their Premier League lead cut to four points, and will be looking to respond against the Kazakh champions.
Kairat Almaty's league season finished last October, and they've only had UCL fixtures to focus on, but remain bottom of the pile with 1 point from seven games.
Here's everything you need to know about Wednesday's game.
How to watch:
The match will be will be shown on Discovery / TNT Sports in the UK, Paramount+ in the U.S., SonyLIV in India and Stan Sport in Australia. You can also follow ESPN's live updates.
Key Details:
Kick-off time: Wednesday, Jan. 28 at 8 p.m. GMT (3 p.m. ET; 1:30 a.m. IST, Wednesday and 6 a.m. AEST, Wednesday).
Venue: Emirates Stadium, London.
Referee: Urs Schnyder [Switzerland].
VAR: Fedayi San [Switzerland].
Injury and Team News:
Arsenal
Declan Rice, M: OUT, suspended
Kai Havertz, F: fitness, OUT, est. return early February
Riccardo Calafiori, D: muscle, DOUBT
Max Dowman, F: ankle, OUT, est. return mid February
Kairat Almaty
Azamat Tuyakbayev, M: chest, OUT, est. return mid February
Dastan Satpaev, F: discomfort, DOUBT
Olzhas Baybek, M: discomfort, DOUBT
Talking Points:
Arsenal's issues with scoring from open play
The numbers do not make good reading for Arsenal's forwards. Viktor Gyökeres has zero non-penalty goals and Leandro Trossard has one goal in Arsenal's last 11 PL games. The pair, who have both scored 5 league goals this season, are the club's top-scorers. It's further compounded by the fact that Bukayo Saka hasn't scored in his last 13 appearances for the club in all competitions, with even Gabriel Martinelli not scoring in his last 13 league games, while Noni Madueke doesn't have a goal contribution in the league for Arsenal.
Gab Marcotti and Julien Laurens discuss Arsenal's attacking options after their 3-2 defeat to Man United.
Granted, these figures are cherry-picked, because Arsenal have had better attacking output in cup competitions, where they have generally not faced low blocks.
Nonetheless, it's a tricky balance that needs more fine-tuning, because even if Arsenal coast to the league title on the back of their defence and set-piece superiority, that may not work in cup competitions. They need their forward line to be more fluid, more risk-taking in the big games, or Arteta risks losing out in the big finals, where the small margins matter.
100% league phase record can create UCL history
Even if the headlines around Arsenal have some hyperbolic negativity currently, the fact remains they are on course for a very unique achievement. Defeat Kairat Almaty at the Emirates and Arsenal will become the first team to win all of their games in the UCL league phase.
It's a record that might take a while to be repeated, as the new format of the UCL ensures that top clubs face tough fixtures in a few of their eight games. Arsenal deserve plenty of credit for coming away with all three points, with impressive wins over Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid at home, while also accounting for Inter Milan and Athletic Club away from home.
It will all matter for nothing if Arsenal don't lift the trophy in May, but for now, they have put their best foot forward in Europe.
Kairat have nothing to lose
UCL top-scorers vs the UCL's worst defence. Seven wins and 21 points vs 1 draw and six losses for 1 point.
The writing is on the wall here, and even Arsenal's B-team will be expected to romp to a victory at home against Kairat Almaty. So what can Rafael Urazbakhtin do?
Remind his players that this will be their last UCL game this season, an opportunity to perform with the world's eyes on them. Kairat have shown they can be awkward opponents -- they gave Inter a scare at home, which was 1-1 unitl the 66th minute.
The Kazakh champions even qualified to the Champions League on the back of a fantastic defensive performance against Celtic over two goalless games, and taking a point off Arsenal at home would be quite the achievement.
How will Arteta rotate?
Arsenal's packed schedule has them facing a tough trip to Elland Road to face Leeds on the weekend, after which they have a Carabao Cup semifinal against Chelsea. Arteta will need his best XI for both those games, and given the level of opposition Kairat will offer, this has to be a chance to make wholesale changes.
However, that comes with the risk of losing cohesion, but the last time Arteta made around ten changes to his lineup, his team defeated Portsmouth 4-1 in the FA Cup. Kairat are stronger opponents, though and Arteta will need to exercise caution.
The loan of Ethan Nwaneri has also reduced his midfield options, since Christian Nørgaard will be expected to partner Cristhian Mosquera in defence. Thus, Mikel Merino and Eberechi Eze might require a first-teamer to partner them with Declan Rice suspended, while the frontline ought to see Martinelli and Madueke dovetail with one of Gabriel Jesus or Gyökeres.
The continued absence of Kai Havertz continues to mystify, as this fixture would have been ideal for him, but Arteta is understandably cautious as he manages the German's comeback.
Arsenal's mentality in response to Man Utd defeat
The crowd at the Emirates booed Arsenal off the pitch after their defeat to Manchester United over the weekend. The media have already christened Arsenal's season as another one of failure, with plenty laying into the squad and Arteta's mentality.
The ESPN 'FC TV' crew react to Arsenal losing at home to Manchester United 3-2 in the Premier League.
The fact still remains that Arsenal are four points atop the Premier League table, are top of the Champions League, have one foot in the final of the Carabao Cup and face Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup fourth round. It's still been an excellent season by any standards, and while questions are naturally being asked of Arsenal after three consecutive second-placed finishes, the same flaws that came to haunt them in seasons' past don't exist anymore.
Their 22-23 title challenge unravelled because William Saliba was injured at the end of the season -- Mosquera is now more than an able deputy. The 23-24 challenge didn't really evaporate -- 89 points is usually enough to win the title. It's just that Arsenal came up against an all-timer of an Erling Haaland season, which isn't the case now. Manchester City and Aston Villa have plenty of flaws. Arsenal's 24/25 'challenge' never really got going, because the squad was littered with injuries -- a scenario that is the complete opposite now with the Gunners boasting of the best squad in Europe, never mind the league.
Questions about mentality will always exist until Arsenal win a major trophy, but the style Arteta has built -- a defence-first approach, set-piece dominance, and spreading the goals throughout the squad -- has resulted in one of the club's best ever seasons. Arsenal have a few things to tweak after the Man United loss, but Arteta should not make too many changes to a system that has been bullet-proof all season.
