Arsenal return to Champions League action on Wednesday, looking to respond after losing against rivals Manchester United on Sunday.
Arsenal come into this fixture off the back of a 3-2 home defeat to Manchester United, which was their first defeat since December 6th, when Aston Villa scored a late winner at Villa Park.
Kairat Almaty come into this fixture off the back of a 4-1 defeat at home against Club Brugge. In Kazakhstan, the league works differently. The season runs from March until October. In their last league outing, which was back on October 26th, Kairat drew 1-1 at home to FC Astana to clinch the title and book their spot in the UEFA Champions League qualification rounds, where they beat Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana 3-1 on aggregate, Finnish side KuPS 3-2 on aggregate, after losing the first leg 2-0 away, Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava 4-3 on penalties, after a 1-0 win at home and a 1-0 loss away, and finally Scottish Champions Celtic 3-2 on penalties after both legs finished goalless, to book their spot in the Champions League group phase for the first time in the club’s history.
Although Mikel Arteta’s side have struggled in the Premier League recently, their Champions League form has been immense. The Gunners have played 7 and won 7, with their most recent win coming against Serie A leaders 3-1 in Milan. In those 7 games, Arsenal have scored 20 goals and only let in 2.
Kairat currently sit bottom of the Champions League table. The Kazakhstan side have played 7, drawn 1 and lost 6, with that 1 draw coming against 30th place Pafos, who had a man sent off after 4 minutes. Despite being bottom, the fact Kairat reached the group stage and have earned the chance to play some of Europe’s elite is a special achievement and one that will go down in Kairat’s history.
Both Mikel Merino and Declan Rice will be suspended for Wednesday night’s match after both players picked up a yellow in Milan.
Bukayo Saka after Manchester United defeat:
“I think we didn’t show our best level for the full game, which is frustrating.
“It’s such a big game with a lot riding on it. Obviously, the Emirates has been a place where we’ve been so strong this season.
“It’s a tough loss to take, but we have to stick together. We go again next week; we’ll try and get back to winning ways.
“In football, you can score, you can concede – it’s your reaction after it. Obviously, we would have wanted to make it 2-0, but we didn’t. Overall, we’re just not too happy with the performance.”
Mikel Arteta’s reaction to defeat against Manchester United:
“First of all, I congratulate Man United for the victory – a game of moments, I would define it.
“The first 30 minutes was total dominance from our side in the areas that we wanted to score the goal, had another two massive chances to score.
“I take full responsibility [today], they have to take full responsibility for what they’ve done for seven months, in the manner that they behaved, how much they want it. And now, in the process of winning, you have to lose or draw. It’s how you react to that. Now we have another opportunity, the best place to talk is on the pitch, in three days’ time, when we play in the Champions League again.
