Arsenal vs Galatasaray Preview, Team News, Likely Line-Ups, Key Man + Prediction

Arsenal will look to kick start their Champions League campaign when they entertain Galatasaray at the Emirates tonight.

We slumped to a disappointing 2-0 defeat away to Borussia Dortmund on match day 1 so it’s vital we bounce back and get our first three points on the board this evening.

Arsene Wenger has called on his players to ensure they win our three home games as that should put us in a solid position to qualify from the group. Failure to win tonight and we would have a lot of work to do to reach the knockout phase.

We warmed up for the game with a 1-1 draw against Tottenham on Saturday. The result was disappointing given how dominant we were but to compound our misery we lost Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta to injury.

Today marks the 18th anniversary of Arsene Wenger being appointed manager of Arsenal so hopefully the players can give him a welcome present in the form of an exciting performance and most importantly, three valuable points.

Team News

As mentioned, Ramsey and Arteta will miss the game after picking up hamstring and calf injuries against Spurs. The pair are expected to be out for at least three weeks.

Mathieu Flamini is certain to start in midfield and although Jack Wilshere is in the squad, he may not start after also twisting his ankle on Saturday and Wenger won’t want to take any chances with the 22-year-old.

Abou Diaby isn’t in contention just yet as he still looks to work his way back to match fitness so he joins Nacho Monreal, Mathieu Debuchy, Olivier Giroud and Yaya Sanogo on the sidelines.

Theo Walcott is due back in full training next week but this game comes too soon, so he misses out along with Serge Gnabry.

Likely Line-Ups

Key Man

Mesut Ozil: The German produced his best performance of the season playing in the ‘hole’ against Aston Villa and hopefully we’ll see him back in a central area tonight. If we can get him on the ball, he will create opportunities.

Predicted Score

Arsenal 2-1 Galatasaray: The visitors are a dangerous side but despite our injury problems, I still think we’ll have too much for them to handle at home.

What team would you put out and whats your predicted score?