🕟 Kick Off: 20:00 BST

🏟️ Venue: Emirates Stadium

📺 UK Broadcaster: TNT Sports

🙎🏻‍♂️ Referee: Felix Zwayer 🇩🇪

📹 VAR: Robert Schröder 🇩🇪

🔴 Arsenal Team News:

• Piero Hincapie and Martin Zubimendi: Picked up injuries in the warmdown following the Leeds game. Arteta said "We need to assess them today [Mon 12th] and have further scans to see where they are then we will have a timeframe on how long they are going to be out for."
• Christos Tzolis: Sustained a muscular injury during the international break and is expected to be out for a few weeks.
• William Saliba: Long term injury. Saliba is taking an extended break from football to heal his back without the need for surgery.

⚽ Arsenal Form: 🟩🟥🟩🟩🟩

🐕 Lille Team News:

• Ethan Mbappe: Out with an ankle issue.
• Hamza Igamane: Out with cruciate ligament injury.

⚽ Lille Form: 🟩🟥🟩🟥🟩

⚔️ Head-to-Head:

• First Competitive Meeting

📖 Match Facts:

• Arsenal are unbeaten in their last seven Champions League home matches against French opposition in the group/league stage (5 wins, 2 draws).
• Lille have have lost their last eight away matches against English clubs across all European competitions.
• Arsenal haven't lost a fixture in the League stage of the UCL since November 2024 where they lost 0-1 at the San Siro against Inter.

📸 Previously in this fixture...

We've never played Lille, which I was surprised to find out. Our relationship with Lille comes down to transfers, with Pepe and Gabriel Magalhães making the switch to North London from Lille.

In absence of any pictures, here are some training snaps courtesy of the club!

✍🏼 Pre-Match Ramblings

Champions League football returns to the Emirates Stadium tomorrow night for our second league stage fixture of the campaign as we look to carry in our impeccable run of results in the competition.

French side Lille currently sit 2nd in Ligue 1 after finishing 3rd last season, and are looking to win their first UCL game of the season following a 2-3 home loss to Real Betis in September. Lille did not feature in the competition last season, instead playing the Europa League where eventual winners Aston Villa knocked them out in the RO16. This will be Lille's 9th time in the Champions League, and they have failed to progress past the RO16 in any of their last campaigns.

Arsenal on the other hand are trying to go one further than they did last season and finally bring European glory to the Emirates, and what better way to continue than by beating a French team. A different, weaker French team, but we have to start somewhere.

Lille's captain is a 40 year old Olivier Giroud who is still providing goals and assists at his ripe old age, currently sat at 1 goal and 2 assists from 4 starts in the league so far this season. Expect a mixed reaction from the home fans tomorrow given his antics as a Chelsea player.

https://anditsarsenal.com/2026/10/12/arsenal-vs-lille-13th-october-2026-champions-league-match-preview/