Arsenal travel to Belgium to face Club Brugge in the Champions League.

Ivan Leko’s side go into this clash off the back of a 3-2 defeat in the league against St.Truiden. That result means that Club Brugge now sit in 3rd place , behind St.Truiden on 33 points and behind the league leaders Union St.Gilloise, who sit on 37 points.

Arsenal also goes into this encounter off the back of a narrow defeat, losing 2-1 to Aston Villa courtesy of a stoppage time winner from Buendia. Arsenal remains top of the Premier League despite defeat; however, the gap has now shrunk significantly. Manchester City now sit 2 points behind the Gunners and Aston Villa are now only 3 points behind.

Club Brugge were defeated in their last Champions League encounter, losing 3-0 to Portuguese outfit Sporting CP. The Belgian outfit have played 5 matches so far in the Champions League, winning 1, drawing 1 and losing 3, with their 1 win coming against Monaco in a 4-1 win.

Arsenal have enjoyed the perfect start to their Champions League campaign. Mikel Arteta’s side have won all 5 of their Champions League fixtures, including a 3-1 win against Bayern Munich. Furthermore, the North London outfit have scored 14 goals and only let in 1, which is the best defensive record in the competition thus far.

Following defeat in their previous league encounter, Club Brugge announced the sacking of Nicky Hayen. Nicky won 52 of his 88 matches across all competitions, drawing 16 and losing 20. His successor, Leko, has experience managing Club Brugge. The Croatian managed the Belgian side from June 2017 until June 2019, in that spell he won the Belgian League and the Belgian Super Cup.

Arsenal have confirmed that Max Dowman has been removed from the Champions League squad through injury. Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus replaces him. In continuation, Declan Rice, Leandro Trossard and William Saliba were not spotted in today’s training session. However, youngsters Josh Nichols, Louie Copley, Marcell Washington and Marli Salmon were all involved.