Arsenal vs Shakhtar Donetsk facts

Arsenal are aiming to build on an impressive Matchday 2 victory as they face Shakhtar Donetsk for the first time in 14 seasons in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League.

Held 0-0 at Atalanta on Matchday 1, Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners a statement 2-0 win at home to Paris Saint-Germain in their second fixture. Their Ukrainian opponents have a single point, drawing 0-0 at Bologna before a 0-3 loss against Atalanta.

Previous meetings

Matches 4
Arsenal wins 2
Shakhtar wins 2
Draws 0
Arsenal goals 9
Shakhtar goals 8

2010/11 Champions League group stage
Arsenal 5-1 Shakhtar
Shakhtar 2-1 Arsenal
Goals from Alexandre Song, Samir Nasri, Cesc Fàbregas, Jack Wilshere and Marouane Chamakh set up Arsenal's victory in north London before a late Shakhtar consolation from former Arsenal striker Eduardo.

Eduardo was also on target two weeks later as Shakhtar came from behind to win, Theo Walcott's early goal cancelled out by Dmytro Chygrynskiy.

2000/01 Champions League first group stage
Arsenal 3-2 Shakhtar
Shakhtar 3-0 Arsenal
In Shakhtar's first European Cup campaign Aleksei Bakharev and Andriy Vorobey scored in the first half at Highbury before the 45th-minute dismissal of Serhiy Popov. Sylvain Wiltord promptly halved the Arsenal deficit from the penalty spot and a late Martin Keown double completed the comeback.

The Ukrainian side would not be denied in Donetsk on Matchday 6, Serhiy Atelkin, Vorobey and Oleksiy Bielik scoring as Shakhtar bowed out with an eye-catching win.

Form guide

Arsenal

Record vs Ukrainian clubs W6 D2 L4 F22 A17
Home record vs Ukrainian clubs: W5 D1 L0

Arsenal last faced Ukrainian opponents in the 2018/19 UEFA Europa League group stage, beating Vorskla Poltava 4-2 at home and 3-0 away – the latter game Saka's first-team debut.

The loss at Shakhtar in 2010 is Arsenal's only reverse in their last seven games against teams from Ukraine (W5 D1) and the only one of the last five they have not won.

The Gunners have recorded five successive victories at home to Ukrainian visitors, scoring 14 goals.

Having not featured in the Champions League proper between 2016/17 and 2023/24, Arsenal are making their second successive appearance.

This is Arsenal's 21st Champions League campaign – second only to Manchester United's 25 among English clubs – but only their second in eight seasons. The 2016/17 season had been their 19th in a row, all under Arsène Wenger.

The Gunners finished first in Group B last season and then edged past Porto (0-1 a, 1-0 h aet, 4-2 pens) – their first round of 16 success since 2009/10, also against the Portuguese side – but lost to Bayern München in the quarter-finals (2-2 h, 0-1 a).

Arsenal have won 12 of their last 16 home European matches, losing only one.

Champions League runners-up in 2006, Mikel Arteta's side were second behind Manchester City in the Premier League last season for a second successive campaign.

Shakhtar 

Record vs English clubs: W5 D4 L9 F21 A35
Away record vs English clubs: W0 D2 L7

Shakhtar's last games against Premier League opponents came in the 2019/20 group stage, when they lost 0-3 at home to Manchester City before a 1-1 away draw.

A 2-1 win at home to City on Matchday 6 in 2017/18 is Shakhtar's only success in their last nine games against English clubs (D2 L6) – they have lost five of the last seven.

The draw in Manchester in November 2019 ended Shakhtar's run of six successive losses in England, and was only the second time they have avoided defeat in their nine games there, in which they conceded 24 goals.

The Ukrainian side are making an eighth successive appearance in the Champions League proper, and a 19th overall. They have featured in all but one of the last 15 seasons.

The Pitmen have failed to progress to the knockout rounds in each of the last six campaigns.

In 2023/24, Shakhtar were third in Group H, bowing out with a decisive 5-3 defeat at Porto on Matchday 6.

That sent them into the Europa League but Marseille proved too strong in their knockout round play-off, winning 3-1 in France after a 2-2 first-leg draw.

Shakhtar's most successful Champions League campaign came in 2010/11, when they reached the quarter-finals before losing 6-1 on aggregate to eventual champions Barcelona.

A 3-2 win at Antwerp on Matchday 2 last season is one of only two victories in Shakhtar's last 12 away games in the Champions League proper (D3 L7).

Victory at Antwerp was also only Shakhtar's second in their last 13 European away matches – a sequence that includes nine defeats.

Under Marino Pušić, who was appointed in October, Shakhtar won their 15th Ukrainian Premier League in 2023/24 and also lifted the Ukrainian Cup for a record 14th time; it was their ninth domestic double.

Links and trivia

Oleksandr Zinchenko was part of Shakhtar's academy between 2010 and 2014.

Zinchenko is a Ukraine team-mate of Valeriy Bondar, Taras Stepanenko, Mykola Matviyenko, Yukhym Konoplia, Georgiy Sudakov, Oleksandr Zubkov and Danylo Sikan.

Latest news

Arsenal

The Gunners' unbeaten start to this season's Premier League ended with a 2-0 defeat at Bournemouth on Saturday, William Saliba sent off in the first half.

That was just Arsenal's second league loss of 2024.

Arsenal have conceded two goals in three of their last four league matches, one more than in the previous 22.

Kai Havertz has scored in Arsenal's last seven home matches in all competitions.

A 3-1 win against Southampton on 5 October was Arsenal's 400th home Premier League victory.

On 10 October Leandro Trossard scored one goal and set up another as Belgium earned a 2-2 UEFA Nations League draw in Italy.

Declan Rice was on target as England won 3-1 in Finland on 13 October.

Saka (thigh), Takehiro Tomiyasu (knee) and Jurriën Timber all sat out the weekend defeat.

Oleksandr Zinchenko has not played since 10 September with a calf injury, although he was on the bench on Saturday.

Martin Ødegaard was taken off with an ankle injury in Norway's 2-1 win against Austria on 9 September and has not played since.

Kieran Tierney (thigh) is yet to play this season.

Shakhtar

The Pitmen have won six of their nine league games this season (D1 L2), including Friday's 1-0 victory at Kolos Kovalivka.

Georgiy Sudakov scored four goals and provided an assist in Shakhtar's 5-1 victory at home to LNZ Cherkasy on 6 October, the first time a player had scored four in a Ukrainian Premier League match since 2017.

Taras Stepanenko was out between 2 and 14 October with a knee injury.

Dmytro Riznyk left the Ukraine camp before the Czechia game due to injury but played 90 minutes for Shakhtar on Friday.

Danylo Sikan, who had been out since being substituted in the first half against Bologna on Matchday 1 due to a broken nose, returned as a half-time substitute on Friday.