Arsenal vs Kairat 28/01/2026 - The journey that matters.

Though this is a monumental event for Kairat, playing against the current Premier League leaders, potentially one of the best teams in world football, the atmosphere in North London is a slightly dreary one. After such a positive start to the season, and what was beginning to look like an insurmountable lead (well, maybe not so insurmountable, but seven points in the Premier League in January is certainly a positive start after New Year's has rolled around), it has dwindled to four points. Instead, the vast majority of news surrounding Arsenal here isn’t revolving around the last game of the Champions League group phase against Kairat, where they could potentially get maximum points by winning every game, but with the dire result on the previous weekend. However, outside of fan debates on what needs to change for Arsenal to have as much success as possible by the end of the season, I have been impressed by Mikel Arteta’s approach.

Author: Olzhas Kudabayev

Maybe it's just because I’m an Arsenal fan myself, but his respect towards Kairat despite all the noise in the Premier League is commendable. In his pre-match press conference, he says, “Obviously, the conditions they're coming are special because of where they are in the domestic league as well. Looking back at the games that they played against Real Madrid or Inter, for example, I watched both of them, and they made it very, very difficult for them. So tomorrow we expect a very similar game, we have to be at our best because we want to win the game, and we'll go for it.” 

Mentioning not making it easy for the much larger European juggernauts to get a result, especially since it's currently the off-season in the Kazakh Premier League, was honestly more than I expected, but I guess it was not surprising due to his level of expertise as a manager.

“Looking to respond” was Arsenal’s slogan on their social media regarding today’s game, but fans mentioned that even winning by a huge margin isn’t enough to make up for Sunday’s loss; they also need a convincing win away against Leeds United in the Premier League. It’s not really just the fact that Kairat are not such a big team in European football, but more because this game doesn’t really change anything for Arsenal. They are almost certainly guaranteed to come 1^st in the league phase of the Champions League.  

When it comes to the ordinary Arsenal fans, many of them used Wednesday’s game to demonstrate their sense of humor. “Kairat Almaty will pay for this week’s anger,” said one young Arsenal fan on TikTok. Some fans even pretended to be devastated by the double midfield blow – Declan Rice and Mikel Merino’s suspension. As if this situation will be crucial for Arsenal’s game. In fact, it may be better to give them a rest, and they probably would have been benched anyway.

 On a serious note, because of the inconsequential nature of the game for Arsenal, there are some fans who attend most games not attending this time, and in general, this has led what is usually extortionate third-party ticket sales to be quite moderate by those standards. As a Red Member, I have access to the Arsenal ballot, and this game directly from the club costs between 48 and 84 pounds, depending on where you are sitting. The third-party market tickets are barely much more than that. Comparing that to the next Premier League game at home against Sunderland, which is sitting at above 200 pounds per ticket on third-party ticket websites

As a British Kazakh, it certainly gives me a sense of pride to see the team I have supported and lived so close to my whole life playing against a club from my home country. For more people to see the resilience and pride of a team from a nation that Arsenal have never played against before is something fantastic. Let's not forget about what exposure this has given to our rising stars. Many more people have had the pleasure to watch our wonderkid Dastan Satpayev play and at just 17, as I’m sure all you readers know has already signed for Chelsea when he turns 18 ( I’m upset it wasn’t Arsenal ☹) Although he is a doubt for the game today, it has been a pleasure to be able to see a fantastic youngster who will hopefully soon make an impact in the Premier League.

 As I enter the Emirates later today, walking over the Danny Fiszman bridge, I will commemorate the fact that this is not only a piece of history for the Kairat players and fans, but also for the Arsenal fanbase too. I hope to see Kazakhs, from those who have made the 8-hour trip from Almaty to the more local Kazakhs like me, filling up as much as the away end as possible to celebrate this incredible achievement. People will look back on this Champions League season and see Kairat languishing towards the rear end of the table, but fans will know how much more it means, from the incredibly tense penalty shootout against one of the biggest teams in Scotland with Celtic, to playing at the San Siro, playing against Real Madrid and Kairat getting their first ever points in the competition against Pafos, the British saying stands true that the real destination was the journey itself.