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Arsenal vs. Dinamo Zagreb: UCL Match Preview, Odds & Prediction
On Wednesday, Arsenal will host Dinamo Zagreb in their penultimate Champions League match at the Emirates Stadium. The Gunners are on the verge of securing a spot in the Champions League round 16.
While the Gunners have been surpassed only by Liverpool and Barcelona in this season's league phase, their Croatian counterparts, who are currently being led by a captain who won the World Cup, are just within the unseeded playoff places.
Previous Matches and Head-to-head
The Gunners have found refuge at home for Champions League matches at the Emirates Stadium since ending their long exile from Europe's top table. They have not lost a single match at home since their 2017 humiliation by Bayern Munich.
Under Mikel Arteta, who has supervised three North London victories and three clean sheets in 2024-25, Arsenal has only surrendered once at home in the Champions League—in last season's 2-2 draw with the Bavarian giants in the quarter-final first-leg.
The Gunners sailed to a 3-0 victory over Ligue 1 heavyweights Monaco on the sixth league matchday, moving them up to third place with thirteen points out of a possible eighteen. However, Arteta's squad still has a shot at any result on the penultimate matchday.
Midweek victory, though, could do more than just secure a playoff spot for Arsenal—it could also give them a taste of club history. The Gunners have already beaten Sporting Lisbon 5-1 and Monaco 3-0, so they could become the first team in club history to win three consecutive Champions League/European Cup games by scoring at least three goals.
Following Saturday's disappointing 2-2 Premier League draw at home to Aston Villa—in which Arteta's men wasted a two-goal lead and fell six points behind Liverpool—Gooners may also believe that the UCL offers their team's best opportunity of winning silverware. The hosts have gone winless in their last five games due to injury.
Although Arsenal's performance at home in Europe's top tournament deserves praise, Dinamo Zagreb has only won twice this league phase away from home. They defeated Slovan Bratislava and Red Bull Salzburg after their humiliating 9-2 loss at Bayern Munich.
But the Croatian giants haven't exactly been raking it in recently. On December 10, they went down 3-0 against Borussia Dortmund and then went scoreless against Celtic. In both matches, they failed to score from 16 efforts.
Despite this, the team now led by the legendary Fabio Cannavaro is in a precarious position: they have eight points, one more than both Paris Saint-Germain and Stuttgart, but they haven't had much time to prepare for their midweek trip to London in a competitive setting.
So far in 2025, Dinamo Zagreb has only played in two friendly matches, winning 3-1 away to Polish team Lech Poznan and drawing 1-1 at Jagiellonia Bialystok. They have not yet returned to domestic play after the Christmas break.
The third-placed Croatian Football League team had lost seven in a row before finishing 2024 with a 3-2 victory against Varazdin. They had lost both of their previous matches at the Emirates Stadium, including a 3-0 loss in the 2015 group round when Alexis Sanchez scored twice.
Arsenal vs. Dinamo Zagreb'Team News
William Saliba's hamstring injury, expected to keep him out for a couple of weeks, is the latest devastating blow for the Gunners. The medical staff at Arsenal is putting in their time this season.
Arsenal will be without Saliba, Ben White, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, and Ethan Nwaneri for Wednesday's match due to injury. Meanwhile, Riccardo Calafiori will have difficulty returning to full fitness after a muscular injury.
Arteta decided to start Jurrien Timber at center defense and Thomas Partey right back in response to Saliba's blow. However, Partey was responsible for Ollie Watkins's equalizer, so Arteta may have to bite the bullet and start Jakub Kiwior again.
Bruno Petkovic, an experienced striker for Dinamo Zagreb, is out with an adductor injury and missed both of their friendlies earlier this month. Dinamo will likely have to find a way to compensate without him.
While Petkovic is the only player in Dinamo Zagreb history to score four or more away goals in a single major European competition (he did it in the 2020-21 Europa League), Sandro Kulenovic, another teammate, has a chance to tie Petkovic's record with a goal on Wednesday night.
Cannavaro's team's only actual injury concern is that of highly-rated midfielder Petar Sucic, who will likely miss the match against the Gunners due to an unidentified illness.
Our Predictions
Arsenal to win and under 4.5 goals @ 1.48 on Sky247.ng
Arsenal have been unbeaten at home in the Champions League since the beginning of last season, and they have yet to allow a goal in 2024–25.
Although Arteta's squad is experiencing some difficulties, they will undoubtedly handle Wednesday's match without incident, especially considering Cannavaro's poor start as Dinamo Zagreb boss.
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