Arsenal vs Juventus Preview – team news, how to watch & potential line-ups

Arsenal and Juventus are set to square off in a mouth-watering mid-season friendly at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday, with the kick-off scheduled for 6.00 pm.

After years of struggling outside the Premier League top four places, Mikel Arteta has changed Arsenal beyond recognition, turning them into legitimate title contenders. 

The Gunners entered the 2022/23 season hoping to secure Champions League promotion for the first time since 2015/16, but they’ve excelled on multiple fronts. 

Martin Odegaard’s second-half double handed the Emirates Stadium outfit a 2-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers on the stroke of the World Cup break, solidifying their place at the top of the tree.

Arsenal went into the six-week hiatus from club football five points clear of second-placed Manchester City, making the north London faithful dream big again.

To avoid losing momentum during the Qatar showpiece, the Gunners have already played three mid-season friendlies, registering a partial success (W2, L1), including a 2-1 win over Juventus’ fierce rivals AC Milan last weekend.

Saturday’s fixture in Dubai will mark the commencement of the record-time Italian champions’ off-season preparation.

Unlike Arsenal, Juventus had experienced another woeful start to the new Serie A season, but head coach Massimiliano Allegri steadied the ship on the eve of the international break.

Despite failing to make it out of the Champions League group stages for the first time since 2013/14, the Bianconeri reigned supreme in domestic proceedings, stringing together six league victories.

Match Preview

Arsenal

Arsenal’s second-string line-up slipped to a 4-2 defeat to Championship promotion hopefuls Watford in their opening mid-season friendly but have since won twice in a row. 

Before the abovementioned win over Milan, the Gunners trounced Lyon 3-0 in Dubai, even though Arteta lacked a large chunk of his first-team stars on both occasions. 

Now back at the Emirates for the first time since a 3-1 loss to Brighton & Hove Albion in the Carabao Cup third round, Arsenal will be looking to gather momentum ahead of a Premier League return on Boxing day. 

Juventus

Since losing 2-1 to Paris Saint-Germain in their final Champions League group-stage outing, Juventus have won three consecutive Serie A matches ‘to nil.’

Inspired by Moise Kean’s double, the Turin heavyweights thumped fellow top-four hopefuls Lazio 3-0 in their final league clash ahead of the World Cup and should take the Emirates pitch in high spirits.

Allegri’s propensity for closely-contested affairs on the road has seen Juventus win three of their last four competitive away games by an identical 1-0 scoreline (L1). 

Arsenal vs Juventus Head-to-Head

Juventus came out 1-0 victors when they last met Arsenal in the 2008 Emirates Cup. However, the Gunners had previously won two of their four H2H meetings in the Champions League (D1, L1), with three of those four encounters seeing one or both sides fail to get on the scoresheet.

Team News

While this match will come too soon for Gabriel Jesus and Emile Smith Rowe, who are still in the treatment room after picking up knee and groin injuries, respectively, Arsenal may welcome several World Cup stars back.

Ben White and Thomas Partey made their return to Arteta’s line-up against Milan, but it’s still uncertain whether Granit Xhaka, Bukayo Saka and co will follow for this showdown.

As for Juventus, Angel Di Maria and Leandro Paredes will try to help Argentina bring home a long-awaited World Cup title when they take on France in the grand final on Sunday. 

However, Allegri should have the remainder of his squad fit and ready, with the only question marks hovering over the heads of Brazilian duo Alex Sandro and Danilo. 

Arsenal vs Juventus Potential Line-ups

Arsenal (4-3-3): Matt Turner; Ben White, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhaes, Kieran Tierney; Granit Xhaka, Thomas Partey, Martin Odegaard; Fabio Vieira, Eddie Nketiah, Reiss Nelson.

Juventus (3-5-2): Mattia Perin; Leonardo Bonucci, Daniele Rugani, Bremer; Juan Cuadrado, Manuel Locatelli, Nicolo Fagioli, Fabio Miretti, Filip Kostic; Moise Kean, Dusan Vlahovic. 

How to Watch?

Saturday’s friendly, alongside all other Gunners’ fixtures, is available to watch online via Arsenal live streams.

Prediction

Arsenal are well ahead of their Italian counterparts in terms of fitness, and we expect the Gunners to come out on top by a narrow margin.

Arsenal 2-1 Juventus