Atalanta have never previously faced Arsenal in any competition. The Gunners will be the fifth English side they have met in major European competition, after Everton (W2), Man City (D1 L1), Liverpool (W2 L2) and Man Utd (D1 L1).

Arsenal have lost their last three away UEFA Champions League games in Italy, although this is their first trip there since 2013. Those defeats came at Roma (0-1 in 2009), Milan (0-4 in 2012) and Napoli (0-2 in 2013).

Atalanta’s last four UEFA Champions League games – all in the 2021-22 group stage – have seen both them and their opponents score two or more goals (D2 L2). In the entire history of the European Cup, no side has ever both scored and conceded 2+ goals in five consecutive matches.

Arsenal have won their opening match in each of their last six major European campaigns (five in UEFA Europa League and last season’s Champions League). The last side to beat the Gunners in their first game was Dinamo Zagreb in the 2015-16 Champions League.

The 2023/24 UEFA Europa League final – won 3-0 by his side – was Gian Piero Gasperini’s 50th game in charge of Atalanta in major European competition (excluding qualifiers). Gasperini has won just under half of those (48%), with 24 victories from 50 matches (D14 L12).

Only Atlético Madrid (+6.16) overperformed their xG total by a higher figure than Arsenal in last season’s UEFA Champions League (+5.49 – 19 goals from an xG of 13.51), while the Gunners also posted the third-highest shot conversion rate in the competition last term (15.7%), behind only Manchester United (16.9%) and Atlético de Madrid (16.8%).

Atalanta’s 23 UEFA Champions League matches have seen 3.6 goals per game (40 for, 43 against), the second-most of any team to feature 20+ times in the competition, behind Viktoria Plzen (3.8 per game).

Bukayo Saka was involved in eight goals in nine UEFA Champions League appearances for Arsenal in 2023-24 (4 goals, 4 assists), the most by an Englishman in their debut season, breaking the record set by Lee Bowyer for Leeds United in 2000-01 (6 goals, 1 assist).

Atalanta’s Ademola Lookman scored five times in his final three UEFA Europa League starts last season, including a hat-trick in the final against Bayer Leverkusen. Lookman’s never scored in four career appearances against Arsenal, while his only UEFA Champions League appearance was in October 2019 for RB Leipzig against Zenit.

Raheem Sterling could make his UEFA Champions League debut for Arsenal in this game and would become the first player in European Cup history to play for four different English teams, having previously played for Liverpool, Man City and Chelsea. The other four players to play for three are David Batty (Leeds, Blackburn, Newcastle), Yossi Benayoun (Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea), William Gallas (Chelsea, Arsenal, Spurs) and Kolo Touré (Arsenal, Man City, Liverpool).