Arsenal kick off their 2025\/26 UEFA Champions League campaign on Tuesday evening with a trip to San Mam\u00e9s to face Athletic Bilbao. The Gunners return to European action looking to build on last season\u2019s impressive run to the semi-finals, where they fell just short of a first-ever triumph in the competition.<\/p>\n
Mikel Arteta\u2019s men head into the clash on the back of a confidence-boosting 3-0 victory over Nottingham Forest in the Premier League. New signing Martin Zubimendi starred with a brace, including a spectacular volley, while Viktor Gyokeres also found the net. Arsenal will now hope to carry that momentum into Europe.<\/p>\n
Bilbao, meanwhile, suffered a disappointing 1-0 home defeat to Deportivo Alav\u00e9s last time out and will be eager to respond. This is their first appearance in the Champions League for over a decade, and Ernesto Valverde\u2019s side will want to make a strong impression in front of their home supporters.<\/p>\n
Predicted Athletic Bilbao lineup vs Arsenal<\/strong>: Simon; Areso, Vivian, Paredes, Berchiche; Vesga, Jauregizar; I. Williams, Sancet, Berenguer; Sannadi<\/p>\n Predicted Arsenal lineup vs Athletic Bilbao<\/strong>: Raya; Timber, Mosquera, Gabriel, Calafiori; Nwaneri, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Gyokeres, Eze<\/p>\n With key players missing for both sides, this contest may hinge on Arsenal\u2019s midfield control and attacking efficiency. Bilbao will rely on I\u00f1aki Williams and Oihan Sancet to trouble the visitors, but Arsenal\u2019s superior depth and recent form could prove decisive.<\/p>\n Prediction: Athletic Bilbao 1-2 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Arsenal kick off their 2025\/26 UEFA Champions League campaign on Tuesday evening with a trip to San Mam\u00e9s to face\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":35671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[270,4044,2372,4045,1823,3796,3906,702,709,48],"class_list":["post-16073","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football","tag-arsenal","tag-atheltic-club","tag-bilbao","tag-champions-league-2025-26","tag-fabrizio-romano","tag-football","tag-martin-zubimendi","tag-mikel-arteta","tag-mikel-merino","tag-uefa-champions-league"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16073","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16073"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16073\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16073"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16073"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/sports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16073"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Prediction<\/h3>\n