🕟 Kick Off: 20:00 GMT

🏟️ Venue: San Siro

📺 UK Broadcaster: Amazon Prime

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Joao Pinheiro 🇵🇹

📹 VAR: Tiago Martins 🇵🇹

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Piero Hincapié: Groin/Thigh injury; sustained against Liverpool. He was not seen in open training ahead of the game and remains ruled out for tomorrow’s match.
• Riccardo Calafiori: Muscular injury; has now missed eight consecutive games. He was not involved in training today and remains sidelined for the trip to Italy.
• Max Dowman: Ankle ligament damage; still several weeks away from a return. He has been removed from the Champions League squad list and is expected back in mid-February 2026.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟧🟩🟩🟧🟩

🤌 Inter Team News:

• Hakan Çalhanoğlu: Calf/Muscle injury; a massive blow for the Nerazzurri. He is ruled out for the Arsenal clash, with a return targeted for mid-February.
• Denzel Dumfries: Ankle injury; sustained in December. He remains sidelined and is not expected to return until mid-March 2026.
• Tomas Palacios: Hamstring injury; out since late October. He is nearing recovery but is currently unavailable and reportedly facing a demotion to the U23s upon his return.
• Josep Martínez: Ankle injury; has returned to full training after two weeks out. He is expected to be available on the bench tomorrow.

⚽ Inter Form: 🟩🟩🟧🟩🟩

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• Inter Milan 1-0 Arsenal (November 6, 2024, UCL League Phase)
• Inter Milan 1-5 Arsenal (November 25, 2003, UCL Group Stage)
• Arsenal 0-3 Inter Milan (September 17, 2003, UCL Group Stage)

📖 Match Facts:

• Arsenal enter this match with a 100% winning record in the Champions League this season (6 wins from 6).
• Arsenal have failed to score in their last two domestic matches (0-0 draws vs. Liverpool and Nottingham Forest) but have scored 18 goals in 6 European games this season.
• Inter are unbeaten in 8 games in all competitions (but lost a game on penalties) since their home loss to Liverpool on the 8th of December.

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

I’ve been putting off writing this because frankly I’m still annoyed at Saturday’s performance, and I can’t bring myself to really care about this game given anything other than a catastrophic collapse in UCL form will result in a Top 8 finish in the League phase of the competition. But woe is me, and like the team, I have to get up for this one, as a game at the San Siro is always a big occasion.

This is the second consecutive year that we’ve had this fixture, and last year’s visit to Milan ended in a boring 1-0 decided by a first half penalty. Inter were the only team to beat us in the first stage of the competition last year, and they could repeat that feat this year. Our final game of the league is at home to Kazakh side Kairat Alamaty, a game you expect us to win (like the game at the weekend…), so a win against Inter isn’t a necessity by any means.

For me, I’m looking to see appearances from players who haven’t seen many minutes lately. I want a start for Eze and Havertz, perhaps Nwaneri and MLS. Eze is the really interesting one, since his poor showing against Villa he hasn’t had much of a part to play in our fixtures which is odd considering the sheer number of them. Havertz should be ready to start given his recent appearances off the bench. Nwaneri is another interesting one; the 19 year old has only started 4 games this season. After earning a new contract in the summer we might have expected to see him playing more, but no.

With a big league game against Manchester United coming up at the weekend, rotation is needed in this game. United looked completely resurgent against City at the weekend, and you would expect them to carry that into another derby in the Premier League.