Key events
64 min: The ever-animated Mikel Arteta is booked for handling the ball while it was still in play, inches from rolling over the touchline. It’s not exactly Tyrone Mings levels of farce. It’s not some pre-mediated nonsense in the style of Diego Simeone all those years ago. An accidental, over-excited misjudgement. But it leaves the referee with no option but to book the Arsenal manager. To be fair to Arteta, he takes the punishment in good grace and with a wry smile.
62 min: Inter respond by making a triple change. Zieliński, Martínez and Frattesi make way for Thuram, Mkhitaryan and Barella.
60 min: Havertz drifts in from the right and loop-curls the ball towards the top-left corner. It’s dropping in. Sommer does very well to claw out for a corner, from which Arsenal cause all sorts of bedlam in the Inter box. A series of blocked shots. Inter eventually hack clear. Arsenal getting closer and closer. So much better from the Gunners.
58 min: Saka causes more bedlam with one of his inswinging corners from the right. Taremi eyebrows it backwards across his own goal-line from a couple of yards. Dumfries clears it off the line at the far post, using his trouser parcel as a cushion. So close. Potentially quite sore. Saka’s corners are so sweet.
56 min: Martinez shows interest in a long punt down the middle. He’d break clear, too, were it not for a perfectly judged pincer movement performed by Gabriel and Saliba. Elegant but no-nonsense as well. “I must take faux-umbrage with your disrespect of one of the great guitar soloists of all time,” pretend-complains Joe Pearson. “I mean, Wish You Were Here is nothing without David Gilmour’s guitar work and Dick Parry’s saxophone. Would you rather have Piers Morgan on co-comms?” I’ve just never really got Pink Floyd. So to answer your question … probably, yes. Shall we meet on some common ground in the middle? Dave Davies from the Kinks? The singer from Spandau Ballet? Melvyn Bragg?
54 min: Martinez again drops back to sling it like a quarterback, but this long pass down the right is never finding Frattesi.
52 min: Martinez slips a glorious pass down the right for Dumfries, who should find Taremi in the middle, but Timber positions himself cleverly to deflect the cross back to Sommer. Nearly a fine counter.
50 min: Darmian throws into the Arsenal box from the left. Saka heads clear and the whistle goes for a free kick in any case. This match has almost immediately slipped back into its pre-penalty nothingness.
48 min: … nothing, but it should have been something. Martinelli loops the corner long. Saliba doesn’t connect with a header, a couple of yards out, by the far stick. Goal kick. Big chance.
47 min: That was an early statement of intent by Arsenal, and they’re on the front foot again, Havertz and Martinelli’s presence down the left winning a corner off Dumfries. From which …
Inter get the ball rolling for the second half. Jesus comes on for Merino. Arsenal are immediately on the attack, Havertz slipping Martinelli into the Inter box down the left. Martinelli ripples the side netting. Sommer had it covered.
Half-time entertainment. Some real good Champions League-related reading for your pleasure.
HALF TIME: Internazionale 1-0 Arsenal
There was absolutely nothing of note to report … until … and that’s changed the mood in San Siro. It was terribly flat beforehand.
GOAL! Internazionale 1-0 Arsenal (Çalhanoğlu pen 45+3)
Çalhanoğlu has to wait because VAR checks for an offside in the build-up to the penalty award. But there’s to be no escape for Arsenal. Çalhanoğlu gives Raya the eyes, and rolls the penalty to the left of centre with the keeper diving the other way. That’s 19 out of 19 penalties for Çalhanoğlu for Inter.
Penalty for Inter!
45 min +2: Çalhanoğlu swings it in from the left. Under pressure from Taremi, Merino kicks the ball up onto his own arm, which is poking well out to his side. The referee points to the spot. Saka is furious but the official’s not changing his mind.
45 min +1: Martinez is bundled over by Saliba. It’s a free kick but he wants the defender booked. The referee’s not interested. Already on a yellow, the striker wants to watch himself here.
45 min: Saka’s corner comes to nothing. Inter clear. Two additional minutes coming up. More, please!
44 min: Saka’s inswinger from the right is eyebrowed out for a corner on the left. Martinelli batters long and it’s now going to be another corner from the right.
43 min: Timber sends a strange curling shot-cum-cross in from the left. It’s looping towards the top right, but slowly enough to make for some easy catching. Sommer instead opts to punch, a weird decision that leads to an unnecessary corner.
41 min: Frattesi chips in a cross from the right. Taremi wins a header, eight yards out, but with White glued to his side, can only head harmlessly over the bar. Better from Inter, though their bar is almost subterranean.
39 min: Martinelli crosses deep from the left. With Saka lurking at the far stick, Inter are forced to concede another corner. Saka hoicks another vicious inswinger into the six-yard box, but the hosts have been dealing with these well so far, and do so again here.
37 min: [insert extended David Gilmour solo here]
35 min: To the credit of everyone in the San Siro, there’s still a lot of noise being made by both sets of fans. The players aren’t pulling their weight right now.
33 min: Taremi and Gabriel accidentally high-kick each other’s foot. That’s it.
31 min: Saka tries again down the right but there’s no way past Bisseck. “Not that this isn’t a thrilling tactical battle, but the Finnish commentators have started discussing the attributes of various Inter and Arsenal legends in Pro Evolution Soccer,” reports Kári Tulinius. “Apparently Obafemi Martins had a speed of 99.”
29 min: Nope. Just a corner, which is punched clear by Sommer. No Arsenal player harmed in this particular action.
28 min: Martinelli teases his way down the left before sending a delicious inswinger into the mixer. Sommer comes out to punch clear. He half-connects with Merino’s head and the ball pings backwards over the bar. VAR will take a look at this. Penalty?
27 min: Saka tries to provide one by swanning in from the right and shooting low. Easy for Sommer. Better, even if the bar has been set low.
26 min: Martinelli drives down the left into acres but his cross is wayward and cleared without fuss by Bisseck. This game needs a spark.
24 min: (… apart from Heathen Chemistry, that should go without saying.) Meanwhile back on the pitch, Bisseck strides purposefully down the left, and he’s got options in the middle, but can’t sort his feet out to deliver the low cross that would have put Arsenal in all sorts. Gabriel is the blocking hero.
22 min: This game hasn’t taken off yet, to the point at which the TNT Sport commentary team have begun riffing on the enthusiasm with which Rio Ferdinand is eating a bag of peanuts. Come back Noel, all is forgiven.
20 min: Dumfries is fine to continue. The game restarts. “It feels weird to be worried about the outcome of a single match this evening when the next four years are thrown into a mad blender with a clown in charge assisted by an equally toxic Mr X,” writes krishnamoorthy v. “On the other hand that might singularly be the reason to enjoy these small pleasures. Heaven knows what time do we have left!” We have good fun on the MBM.
19 min: Saka’s delivery is dangerous, but punched clear confidently by Sommer. Then the whistle goes, Dumfries down and requiring some attention having walked backwards into a post.
18 min: Some determined work by Merino sets Arsenal on another attack. He wins the ball and slips wide left to Martinelli, whose long cross forces Darmian into the concession of another corner. Saka to swing it into a crowded six-yard box.
16 min: Nothing comes of the corner. That booking puts Gabriel on the tightrope now. A long evening ahead if Inter choose to start running at him.
15 min: Before the corner can be taken, Martinez and Gabriel are both booked for a bout of wrestling followed by some unnecessary yap.
14 min: … so having said that, Taremi troubles Arsenal down the inside-right channel but can’t quite find Martinez in the middle, then Saka goes up the other end and wins a corner down the right. Much better. Good old distended league phase!
12 min: Right now, this is exactly what you’d expect to find when trudging through the middle stretch of a bloated league phase. Not a great deal going on.
10 min: Inter continue to pass it around patiently. Arsenal hold their defensive shape. A very old-school Serie A feel to this at the moment.
8 min: A free kick out on the Inter right. Çalhanoğlu and Zieliński over-elaborate with options unused in the box. But Arsenal can hardly get a touch. It’s all Inter in these early exchanges.
6 min: Incidentally, there are no Arsenal-supporting musicians on TNT Sports co-commentary. Full disclosure: I didn’t get to hear any of Noel Gallagher’s contributions to Manchester City’s game at Sporting Club last night, but presumably he made a couple of thrilling statements early on before spending the rest of his time repeating the same old lines with rapidly diminishing returns. But let’s rule nothing out this evening yet; perhaps David Gilmour will pop up towards the end of the match and go on for far too long.
4 min: More space for Dumfries, this time out on the right. His cross is too long and Arsenal breathe again. The visitors haven’t found first gear yet.
3 min: Partey’s poor pass out from the back is intercepted by Zielinski, and Çalhanoğlu whistles a low long-distance drive inches wide of the bottom left-hand corner. Raya probably had it covered, but had it been on target, it would have been a close-run thing.
2 min: Inter so close to taking the lead! A cross looped in by Martinez from the left. Dumfries takes it down, just inside the box on the right. He digs out a spectacular rising shot that rattles off the underside of the bar, Raya beaten all ends up. Arsenal clear their lines.
1 min: “All right, great – a game of football,” begins Charles Antaki, high on copium. “That’ll do fine; like many, I’m looking forward to a bit of distraction. Please let it be engaging enough to take one’s mind off recent geopolitical news – hopefully a thrilling, entertaining game, but if it’s a nasty anger-filled slugfest in the pouring rain with two red cards and a pitch invasion, that’ll do just as well. Something, anything.”
A moment of silence, beautifully observed, as San Siro remembers the victims of the floods in Spain. Then Arsenal get the match underway.
The teams are out! Inter in their famous blue and black, Arsenal in their equally storied red with white sleeves. Arteta and Inzaghi embrace warmly while the players clasp hands. We’ll be off once captains Martinez and Saka swap those aforementioned pennants.
Who’s had the bigger shocker today? Kamala Harris or Tyrone Mings? It’s Harris, isn’t it, to be fair. But the Aston Villa defender has done well to simply keep that particular battle close. A complete fiasco at Brugge, in which he picked up the ball to concede a penalty, means Villa relinquish the top place they held after three rounds of matches. It also means both Arsenal and Inter can go above them into fourth with a win tonight. Perhaps even as high as second, though the Gunners will have to rattle in the goals if they’re to leapfrog Monaco and Sporting on goal difference.
Mikel Arteta is asked by TNT Sports whether his captain Martin Ødegaard will feature tonight. “Let’s see … he’s only done one session … he brings another kind of energy … we need to use him if he wants to play so let’s see how the game develops … his character and personality … it is very important to start to get him back … we have already played this season with Declan Rice in other positions so we will adapt … Thomas Partey and Mikel Merino are both talented and physical … Mikel is a real threat in the box … Thomas can break the game down and progress the ball very well … two very important players for us … we need a big one … it’s a very iconic place against a great team … we have to have a very big match … we are ready for it … winning on big stages like this is always a big boost.”
Pennant watch. Both clubs keep it plain and simple with a no-frills approach, neither august institution up for any baroque frippery. Props to Arsenal for the metallic rail, going the extra mile over Inter’s simple cord-based suspension system, but a two-tone background beats plain white all day long so the hosts edge a close and classic contest.
Arsenal make one change to the XI sent out for Saturday lunchtime’s nondescript 1-0 defeat at Newcastle. Declan Rice has picked up an injury, and hasn’t travelled with the squad in the hope of making the weekend fixture against Chelsea. Ben White comes into the side. As expected, Martin Ødegaard returns after his long injury lay-off to take up a place on the bench.
The hosts Inter by contrast are well rested. Simone Inzaghi brings back five players stood down for their 1-0 victory over Venezia on Sunday. Hakan Çalhanoğlu, Davide Frattesi, Mehdi Taremi, Matteo Darmian and Yann Bisseck return to the starting line-up, with Nicolò Barella, Marcus Thuram, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco and former Arsenal midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan stepping down to the bench.
The teams
Internazionale: Sommer, Pavard, de Vrij, Bisseck, Dumfries, Frattesi, Calhanoglu, Zielinski, Darmian, Taremi, Lautaro Martinez.
Subs: Di Gennaro, Josep Martinez, Arnautovic, Thuram, Acerbi, Buchanan, Asllani, Mkhitaryan, Barella, Dimarco, Bastoni.
Arsenal: Raya, White, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Saka, Partey, Merino, Martinelli, Havertz, Trossard.
Subs: Neto, Setford, Odegaard, Gabriel Jesus, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Jorginho, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri, Robinson.
Referee: Istvan Kovacs (Romania).
🔴 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠𝙉𝙀𝙒𝙎 ⚪
🔙 White returns
© Saka skippers the side
💪 Odegaard back in the squadFull focus for 90 minutes 👊
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) November 6, 2024
Preamble
Inter and Arsenal have faced each other on two previous occasions. The away team has won comfortably both times, Thierry Henry missing a penalty at Highbury as the Italians won 3-0 in September 2003, then scoring twice in a 5-1 rout of the Nerazzurri at San Siro a couple of months later. So in that sense history favours Mikel Arteta’s side tonight. But more recent history does not: Inter have won seven of their last eight matches in all competitions, and have only tasted defeat this season in the Milan derby back in September, while the Gunners have only taken one Premier League point from the latest nine available, and looked distinctly uncertain when hosting Shakhtar in their last Champions League fixture. So in that sense history doesn’t augur so well … but Martin Ødegaard could return from injury, which would give out-of-sorts Arsenal a huge boost ahead of this tricky but tantalising tie against the Italian champions. Kick-off at San Siro is 8pm GMT. It’s on!
