Time & Location
Sep 19, 2024, 3:00 PM EDT
Dillon's, 955 Boylston St, Boston, MA 02115, USA
Match Details
Dillon's will be open from 12p. Pre-match coverage begins at 2p.
Ciao, Italia!
Mikel Arteta will surely be pleased with his side's performance over Sp*rs at the weekend, but there's no time to bask in it. In the second of three big matches in a week, Arsenal open the new UCL league phase in Bergamo. This will be a difficult test for the Gunners, especially with Sunday's trip to Manchester City looming. Declan Rice should be back in midfield, having served his one match suspension. Martin Ødegaard and Mikel Merino remain out, while Zinchenko, Calafiori, and Bukayo Saka will be late decisions. Regardless, expect Arteta to field his best XI to start Champions League play with three points. This will also be a chance for the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling to give the manager a selection headache ahead of the weekend.
Meanwhile, hosts Atalanta are far from pushovers, and the Gewiss Stadium will be rocking. Gian Piero Gasperini’s 23/24 Europa League winners will be hoping to channel their European form of a year ago into a deep run in this season's UCL. They come into this tie winners of two of their first four matches in Serie A, good for six points and ninth place. La Dea play an exciting brand of football that will test the Gunners. Adamola Lookman (UEL final hat-trick) and Mateo Retegui (4 league goals so far) form a potent attack that will pose problems. Additionally, both former Aston Villa attacker Nicolo Zaniolo (who performed very well against Arsenal last season) and old friend Sead Kolasinac call Atalanta home and will be raring to get involved.
These two sides have never played a competitive match against each other, so you will be witnessing history. Join us on Thursday at Dillons for an afternoon pint and some European fare!
VCC
UTA
KEEP THE FAITH ✊