Key events
Kari Tulinius is in too: “I opted to watch this match, even though I suspected it might be a dreaded tactical battle, because I’m an Arsenal fan. I just checked on the match I had been tempted to watch instead to see that it was 1-1 in Monaco v Barcelona and the latter already had a player sent off. Will I be sensible and switch over to the much more promising game? No, because I’m a fan and I’d rather groan about my team than enjoy watching another.”
Charles Antaki is back: “I am utterly ready to hear that Gabriel Jesus is having the game of his life, causing the defenders no end of trouble and generally being a viper-like threat ready to strike. As opposed to, well, looking busy, falling over and losing the ball. It’s one thing or the other, isn’t it? More evidence of the former, please.”
Half-time: Atalanta 0-0 Arsenal
An absorbing cont….no, sadly not. It’s been low-level entertainment. Both teams defending well and beyond a couple of Lookman flashes not much excitement. Is it like this because there’s another seven matches of this new-fangled group stage to come? We can only speculate.
45 min: Only one minute of time is added on, and it passes without much incident.
44 min: Mik Arteta is angry as his team again lose the ball. His team have defended well but it’s hard not to yearn for the free-spirited disco dancers of two years ago.
43 min: A rare Arsenal attack, Saka and Jesus trying to link but Atalanta quick to the danger.
Richard Hirst: “If Franc(is)esco Rossi comes on as an Atalanta substitute will he be rockin’ all over the pitch?”
He will celebrate by rolling over and laying down, down deeper and down.
(Yeah, not too much happening here.)
41 min: Eagle Brosi gets in touch: “For years us Arsenal fans suffered the humiliation of playing in the Europe on Thursday nights and now that the team actually qualifies for the Champions League again we’re playing on Thursday night. It feels discount or somehow cheaper. The commentary crew here in America isn’t Micah, Henry or Carragher (like it is on Tuesdays and Wednesday) it’s bygone stars of the USA’s 94 team. I hate this expanded group stage.” Three days is a bit much, yes.
39 min: Lookman, in that free role, spins into the far corner, spins and Ruggeri just fails to keep the ball in. Such a dangerous player, amazing he never made it in English football, though there’s still time. Gasperini indulges him as a free spirit, it seems.
36 min: De Roon overhits a pass to Zappacosta on the burst. Once watched Antonio Conte chase “Zappa” when at Chelsea down the flank at Bournemouth for an entire half telling him his every move. Well, more screaming. He’s since had a decent career so there we go.
33 min: Arsenal not enjoying this as they might. Atalanta squeezing them, as they will do. Saliba and Gabriel the only players getting any time on the ball.
31 min: Retegui was one of those disappointments in that oh so disappointing Italian team at the Euros. For those of us who grew up with dear, departed Toto Schillaci as the ideal, they were a sad sight. Italy’s team in 1990 was glorious, if ill-fated.
28 min: As the half-hour approaches, we’re in the dread territory of it being an intriguing tactical battle. Atalanta have more of the ball than they’d like…but suddenly a gap and De Ketelaere finds space and Retegui shoots.
26 min: Now some animation from Gasperini, bouncing up and down in his club gilet. Arteta is asking Rice and Partey to get weaving in the middle. They keep it tight enough. Lookman is the wild card and his skidding ball causes a minor panic.
24 min: Martinelli is forced backwards; Atalanta have been just as disciplined, and nobody can get away from the other. Hien intercepts, charges on and then finds his ball has been intercepted.
22 min: As soon as Arsenal lose possession, they are back in numbers, and that includes Kai Havertz, way back in his own half.
21 min: Arsenal having much more of the ball now. Comfortable in possession, and testing the discipline of the Atalanta defence.
18 min: Havertz, ever the ghoster into space, chases down a throw-in, and then plays the ball to Martinelli, who swings and misses. He was leaning back. Not been in the best form, the Brazilian, when he can be so good.
17 min: Gasperini is as implacable as ever on the sidelines. This is an even contest, both teams maintaining a threat to the other.
15 min: De Roon dictates from deep as Atalanta edge forward. Lookman again drops deep and ghosts around. Rice comes back to clear, and heads away Lookman’s chip. Good covering from the former Irish international.
13 min: Gunners free-kick. Saka is pulled down by Ederson who gets a yellow card. He will be on sudden death now. Carnesecchi sets his wall. Saka takes a stutter step, and then slaps a daisy-cutter, and the keeper makes a fine save. Arsenal fail to seize on the rebound.
11 min: First movement from Lookman, picking up the ball deep and then, as the ball comes in, getting on the end of a header. It goes wide.
10 min: At a throw-in, Arteta urges Timber forward, but the ball settles with Atalanta, who are deliberate in their passing.
8 min: Both coaches look intense. The home fans nowhere near being silenced.
6 min: Havertz seizes on a loose ball and fires wide. Nice and alert, the Gunners forwards tonight. Get this game won, and you are some way to finishing in ninth, or 24th, if you fancy a play-off. See, easy.
5 min: Carnesecchi the goalkeeper clears from Rice’s corner. Still, that looked dangerous. The Gunners being good at set pieces is so comforting for those of us who remember their 1990s.
4 min: It’s Jesus who leads the Gunners’ press, and then as he wins the ball high up, Saka steps in, and his shot rebounds behind for a corner. Set piece alert!
3 min: As we have come to expect, Atalanta push high up, and that means the Gunners defenders must be sure in their passing around the back.
And away we go….
1 min: They kick off to one hell of a racket, the Atalanta goddess the tifo among the tifosi. Marten de Roon, their captain, must look back at his days at Middlesbrough and wonder. Where did it all go wrong, Mart? Gabriel Jesus captains Arsenal.
There goes the anthem, and Mikel Arteta and Gasperini share a moment of smiles and warmth.
Kick-off approaches in Bergamo. And that means Arsenal are only 137 matches from reaching the final in Munich. Whereabouts in the top 36 will they end the night? Bergamo host the matches these days. Four years ago – and fatefully in the Covid-20 outbreak – Atalanta used to travel to Milan for the Champions League matches.
Krishna gets in touch: “The Alphabetically aligned clash in this new “clear as mud” draw is going to be an interesting clash. As you said Arsenal is Arsenal and a team that has beaten Bayer Leverkusen can’t be taken lightly.”
Yes, Leverkusen have been smashing Feyenoord as we wait for kick-off. They won 4-0, and were four goals up at half-time.
Peter Oh is in: “Greetings from California, where it’s approaching the lunch hour. The Atalanta goalkeeper’s surname – Carnesecchi – is Italian for ‘dried meat’. The combo with Arsenal’s Rice makes this match arguably the tastiest fixture on today’s Champions League menu!”
And Charles Antaki: “So we’ll get another look at dear old Sead Kolašinac – a player of mixed memories for the Arsenal fan: the first sight of him was of a rather impressive tank, powering up and down the left flank; but then, as tanks inevitably do, his mobility and vulnerability were eventually revealed and exploited by the opposition. Shame. But for many, the abiding image is this still rather disturbing footage of him fighting off armed attackers in the main streets of North London. Give them hell, Sead! (Preferably not tonight).”
Those teams in full:
Atalanta: Carnesecchi, Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, de Roon, Ederson Silva, Ruggeri, De Ketelaere, Lookman, Retegui. Subs: Rui Patricio, Rossi, Kossounou, Cuadrado, Pasalic, Zaniolo, Bellanova, Palestra, Brescianini, Vlahovic, Del Lungo, Samardzic.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Havertz, Partey, Rice, Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Martinelli. Subs: Neto, Kiwior, Sterling, Calafiori, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Oulad M’Hand, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Porter, Jorginho, Trossard.
Referee: Clement Turpin (Bourgogne)
Timber at left-back, too. That was the plan a year ago until injury intervened. Riccardo Calafiori is on the bench after returning from his own injury.
As predicted, Jesus in for Arsenal, with Saka in, despite his cramp against Spurs. Lookman in for Atalanta, with former Gunner Sead Kolasinac playing with former Chelsea player Davide Zappacosta.
The starting teams
Atalanta XI: Carnesecchi, Djimsiti, Hien, Kolasinac, Zappacosta, De Roon, Ederson, Ruggeri, De Ketelaere, Retegui, Lookman.
Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Rice, Havertz, Saka, Martinelli, Jesus.
David Hytner can’t help but look ahead to that Sunday meeting with City.
Early team news
Kieran Tierney, Mikel Merino, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu all out, with Martin Odegaard on that list for the foreseeable, it seems. Declan Rice and Riccardo Calafiori are ready. Gabriel Jesus to return? Bukayo Saka to be rested? It’s still a strong hand Mikel Arteta has to play.
Ademola Lookman, Wandsworth’s finest, the hero of Lansdowne Road, is expected to start amid a bit of an injury crisis for Gasperini. Defence is robbed Ben Godfrey, once of Everton, young prospect Giorgio Scalvini, and club captain Rafael Toloi are all out and so is West Ham “legend” Gianluca Scamacca.
Preamble
Perhaps this is the tie of the opening round of the Swiss system. Atalanta were glorious winners of the Europa League, boxing off Bayer Leverkusen in Dublin. Gian Piero Gasperini is one of the wiliest foxes ever to do it. And he’s back for more.
And Arsenal are, well, becoming rather like Arsenal these days: powerful, defensively strong, full of European experience. That win over Tottenham at the weekend was far more George Graham than Arsene Wenger. The Premier League remains the priority, and that’s back on track after Sunday, though Manchester City loom too, this Sunday. And this is already Thursday.
Kick-off in Bergamo is 8pm UK time.
