Midfielder Alexander Song replaced Emmanuel Eboue in the only change for the Barclays Premier League club, who included young Mexican forward Carlos Vela, Wales teenager Aaron Ramsey and 16-year-old Jack Wilshere on the bench as neither Sami Nasri (ankle) nor Mikael Silvestre (thigh) had travelled.

Arsenal have never won in the former Soviet Union and have been beaten twice by Dynamo, in 1998 and 2003.

However, with tonight’s fixture in the smaller 17,000-capacity Stadion Valeriy Lobanovskyi rather than the Olympic Stadium, which is being rebuilt ahead of Euro 2012, manager Arsene Wenger was confident of a positive result to open Group G.

Dynamo coach Yuri Semin took in the Gunners’ impressive win at Ewood Park and was aiming to maintain his side’s promising start to the new campaign after they failed to register a single point in Europe’s elite club competition last season.

Dynamo Kiev: Bogush, Betao, Diakhate, Mykhalyk, Nesmachniy, Vukojevic, Yussuf, Yeremenko, Aliev, Ninkovic, Bangoura.

Subs: Shovkovskiy, Ghioane, Morozyuk, Shatskikh, Kravets, Olexander Romanchuk, Asatiani.

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Song Billong, Denilson, Van Persie, Adebayor.

Subs: Fabianski, Vela, Ramsey, Wilshere, Djourou, Bendtner, Eboue.

Referee: Luis Medina Cantalejo (Spain)