Arsenal vs Monaco Match Preview

Arsenal will be looking to take another step towards an automatic place in the last-16 stage of the Champions League when they welcome Monaco to the Emirates on Wednesday evening.

Live on TNT Sports 1 and TNT Sports Ultimate, this crucial matchday six contest kicks off at 20:00 and it promises to be an enthralling contest between two sides in the hunt for a top-eight finish.

Attack the Best Form of Defence

Both teams are facing defensive selection issues, with Arsenal missing Ben White and Takehiro Tomiyasu. While they are also sweating over the fitness of Oleksandr Zinchenko, Gabriel and Riccardo Calafiori.

With Monaco without the suspended duo of Singo and Christian Mawissa, this game could hinge largely on the attacking prowess of these teams.

The Gunners are thriving in the final third, having scored in each game of their current six-match unbeaten run in all competitions, a streak that has helped them to third in the Premier League.

Monaco, who last failed to score at the start of November, snapped a two-game losing run with a 2-0 triumph over Toulouse at the weekend and they sit third in Ligue 1, five points behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

A win for either side in North London would go a long way to helping them clinch one of the automatic places in the last 16, while defeat could seriously harm their chances of avoiding having to go through the play-off round.

Tip 1: Arsenal to win and both teams to score @ 2/1

Arsenal’s constant defensive reshuffles have seen them concede in three of their last four matches, once against both Sporting and Fulham and twice in the trip to West Ham. With Mikel Arteta potentially having to tweak things at the back again, further disruption is likely and a Monaco side full of attacking talent look capable of getting on the scoresheet.

The Ligue 1 outfit have scored in their last six matches in all competitions and have netted in every away fixture this season, notching 15 in total on the road of which three have come in the Champions League. But Les Rouge et Blanc may struggle to avoid defeat at the Emirates, a stadium where the Gunners are unbeaten at since April this year – a 13-game streak.

Arsenal have seen off both PSG and Shakhtar Donetsk at home in Europe and they can add Monaco’s scalp to their list.

Tip 2: Mohammed Salisu to be booked @ 12/5

Defensive suspensions will likely see Mohammed Salisu come into Monaco’s backline and he looks like a prime candidate to go into the book for the fourth time this season.

The former Southampton defender was a regular offender during his time in England, picking up 15 yellows and a red from 68 Premier League appearances, and his return to the country could end in disappointment again.

Salisu has been used sparingly this season, featuring in just 10 games, but he has picked up three yellows, one of those in the Champions League, and he is making nearly one foul per match across Europe and Ligue 1.