One of the standout fixtures from the latest set of Champions League games sees Inter Milan square off with Arsenal at the San Siro on Wednesday night.
Simone Inzaghi’s hosts have made a quietly impressive start to their continental campaign, collecting seven points from a possible nine.
The Nerazzurri battled their way to a 0-0 draw away at Man City on matchday one before beating both Red Star Belgrade and Young Boys to move up to seventh place in the standings.
Last time out in Serie A, Inter moved to within one point of league leaders Napoli with a narrow 1-0 victory over Venezia.
As for Arsenal , they have seven points to their name in this season’s Champions League, with their most eye-catching result coming courtesy of a 2-0 win over PSG on matchday two.
The Gunners go into this heavyweight clash off the back of a damaging 1-0 defeat at Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday, in a game that brought up one of my two St James' Park selections.
How the bookies view it: Inter to edge it
The bookmakers are struggling to separate the pair, with Inter Milan marginal favourites at 31/20 on Betano.
Arsenal are slight outsiders at 7/4 with Betano, while a share of the San Siro spoils is trading at 11/5 with the same firm.
Head to head: Arsenal dreaming of another five-star display
The two teams last crossed paths in the now-defunct group stage way back in November 2003. While the Gunners went down 3-0 when hosting Inter that year, they produced one of their best-ever European performances by brilliantly dismantling the Italians 5-1 in the reverse fixture.
Players to watch: Martinez to make his mark?
Lautaro Martinez, who scored the only goal of the game during Inter’s 1-0 win over Venezia on Sunday, is as big as 12/5 (UniBet) to notch on Wednesday night.
Bukayo Saka is always one of Arsenal’s biggest goal threats, making the Gunners talisman a tempting proposition to register a shot on target here at 19/20 (UniBet).
Predicted line-ups
Francesco Acerbi and Hakan Calhanoglu both started on the bench for Inter at the weekend, but the pair are expected to come back into the starting XI this midweek.
Arsenal boss Arteta will again be unable to call upon the services of injured duo Martin Odegaard and Riccardo Calafiori, with both players not expected to be available until after the forthcoming international break.
Inter Milan: Sommer; Pavard, Acerbi, Bastoni; Dumfries, Barella, Calhanoglu, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Thuram, Martinez
Arsenal: Raya; Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, Zinchenko; Partey, Rice, Merino; Saka, Martinelli, Havertz
Anything else catch the eye?
In what looks like a mighty tough encounter to call, I’ll instead head to the Bet Builder and back both Hakan Calhanoglu and Thomas Partey to each commit a foul at 4/5 (Bet 365).
Turkish maestro Calhanoglu got on the wrong side of the referee once during Inter Milan’s 0-0 draw with Man City, not to mention he has clocked up three fouls across his last three appearances in Serie A.
As for Partey, he has been reprimanded by the referee on multiple occasions in each of his last three Premier League outings. He also gave away a free-kick in Arsenal’s previous away game at Atalanta.
This UEFA Champions League match between Inter Milan and Arsenal will be played on Nov 6, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Inter Milan vs Arsenal prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
