Inter v Arsenal: Champions League – live | Internazionale

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

Preamble