Champions League focus game preview: The Gunners play against the Basque Lions away, and who will be the ups and downs when the two wingers are absent?

It has been a long time to come out. The new season of the Champions League will officially kick off in the middle of this week. 36 teams will fight in the league stage. There are 8 rounds of the league stage, each round will be divided into 3 match days. 12 teams will appear on the first match day of the first round of the league, and together they will present 6 exciting matches to the fans. Among them, Athletic Bilbao vs. Arsenal was one of the most eye-catching games of the day, but the two most threatening wingers, Nico Williams and Saka, who are both the most threatening attacks, will be absent due to injury, which really makes fans feel regretful.

Athletic Bilbao is one of the most distinctive clubs in La Liga and even European football. The club insists on signing only players of Basque ancestry. Later, it was relaxed to have players born or lived in the Basque region. For example, the team's current star Niko Williams is a descendant of Ghana who grew up in the Basque, and his brother Iniyaki Williams is not only the captain of Athletic Bilbao, but also a member of the Ghanaian national team. Although the material selection is limited, Athletic Bilbao has maintained strong strength and won fourth place in La Liga last season and was able to participate in the UEFA Champions League this season.

Athletic Bilbao head coach Valverde can be called the club's legendary coach. He not only played for the team as a player, but also retiring from Athletic Bilbao youth team, U18, U19, and B teams to the first team coach. Then he went to clubs such as Villarreal and Barcelona to coach. Now this is his third time coaching Athletic Bilbao. The team's number one star is 23-year-old Spanish winger Nico Williams, currently worth 70 million euros, and the second highest is 25-year-old Spanish midfielder Sanchet, currently worth 60 million euros. There are also defenders worth 40 million euros on the defense line, and Spanish team's main goalkeeper Unai Simon, who was win-winning from Riyadh, signed back to central defender Laporte from Riyadh not long ago. The team's total value reached 380 million euros.

Athletic Bilbao won the second place with 6 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss last season, and defeated Rome and Glasgow Rangers in the knockout stage, reaching the semi-finals, and finally lost to Manchester United 1-7 in the semi-finals. They started the La Liga well this season, with 3 wins and 1 loss in the first four league games, currently second only to Real Madrid and Barcelona, ​​ranking third in La Liga. In the first round of the league, he defeated Sevilla 3-2, defeated Vallecano 1-0 in the second round, and defeated Real Betis 2-1 in the third round. He did not suffer the first defeat until he lost to Alaves 0-1 in the fourth round. Now, they will usher in their first strong rival this season - Arsenal!

Arsenal is the most popular team in the Premier League. Not only is the head coach Arteta an Espanyol, but the team also has five Spanish players, Subimémenti, Merino, Moslak, Raya and Kepa. Arsenal has invested heavily in recent seasons, winning second in the Premier League in the first two seasons, only one step away from the championship. In the summer window, players such as Dzekelish, Eze, Subimedi, Maduaike and Moslack have been introduced, and their strength is even more powerful. Now the team's total value has reached 1.33 billion euros, even surpassing Manchester City and Liverpool, ranking first in the Premier League, second only to Real Madrid in the world, ranking second.

Arsenal ranked second with 3 wins and 1 loss after four Premier League leagues, second only to Liverpool, which won all four games. They defeated Manchester United 1-0 in the first round of the league, defeated Leeds United 5-0 in the second round, lost 0-1 to Liverpool in the third round, and suffered a first defeat, and defeated Nottingham Forest 3-0 in the fourth round, and both were 3 wins and 1 loss. This game will be the first time Athletic Bilbao and Arsenal have played in the Champions League and their second time this season. In the Chiefs Cup final at the beginning of the season, Arsenal defeated Athletic Bilbao 3-0. The three players who scored the goal at that time were Dzekelish, Havertz and Saka.

Both teams have heavyweight players absent in this game. The two main players in Athletic Bilbao are absent. After playing for Spain on the international match day, Nico Williams will be absent for six weeks due to a moderate strain on the left groin muscle, which is tantamount to a bolt from the blue for Athletic Bilbao. In addition, defender Egirus will miss this game after rupture of the cruciate ligament in a friendly match with Santander Athletic.

Arsenal's injuries are even more serious. Saka and Odgao were injured in the match between Arsenal and Leeds United, of which Saka will be injured for about 3-4 weeks. After returning from injury, Odgao was injured again in the match between Arsenal and Nottingham Forest. In addition, Havertz and Saliba are also injured, and it is unknown whether they can make a comeback in this game.

In this game, Athletic Bilbao and Arsenal both lacked the team's sharpest sharp swords - Nicho Williams and Saka. However, the impact of Nicho Williams on the Basque Lions is obviously greater than the impact of Saka's absence on Arsenal. After all, without Nicho Williams, Athletic Bilbao can only rely on Sanchett and Iniyaki Williams, while Arsenal also has Djokoresh, Eze, Maduaike and Rice, and the depth of the bench between the two sides is very different. Although Athletic Bilbao is fighting at home, he may not be able to do anything to the Gunners who come from afar.

Note: The picture comes from the Internet.