UEFA Champions League: All eyes on Saka and Lookman as Atalanta host Arsenal
The Opta supercomputer has made Arsenal as favourites for to win on their fourth visit to Italy losing on their last three visits and Bukayo Saka is seeing as one of the players that could make that difference.
The 23-year-old was involved in eight goals in nine Champions League appearances in 2023-24 (4 goals, 4 assists), the most by an Englishman in their debut season and Mikel Arteta will be banking on his Nigeria-born England international who has scored once and provided four assists in four Premier League games so far this season.
Saka is also looking to score his 60th goal in 231 appearances for Arsenal across all competitions.
For Atalanta, another Nigerian, Ademola Lookman will be looked on as the man to deliver a positive result at the Gewiss stadium on Thursday evening.
Lookman will surely be one to watch out for, having scored five times in his final three Europa League starts last season – including a hat-trick in the showpiece against Bayer Leverkusen.
He also scored the winner this past weekend as Atalanta overcame Fiorentina 3-2.
Lookman’s never scored in four prior appearances against Arsenal, however, while his only Champions League appearance was in October 2019 for RB Leipzig against Zenit.
The 26-year-old has scored 33 times in 80 games across all competitions for Atalanta, his most number of games and appearances for a single club.
