Arsenal take on FC Basel tonight as we look for our first Champions League win of the season.
Here are the official line-ups, and Arsenal are wearing the away kit tonight because of a ruling from UEFA.
Arsenal: Ospina, Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal, Xhaka, Cazorla, Ozil, Iwobi, Walcott, Alexis
Subs: Cech, Gibbs, Gabriel, Oxlade-Chamberlain, The Jeff, Elneny, Lucas
FC Basel: Vaclik, Traore, Balanta, Xhaka, Lang, Zuffi, Bjarnason, Steffen, Fransen, Suchy, Doumbia
Subs: Vailati, Gaber, Sporar, Delgado, Elyounoussi, Hoegh, Calla
Looks good COYG!
Alexis up front. Ospina in goal? He has lost it.
Why won’t he play a real stricckker up front????
Well, at least he has relegated Coquelin to the bench for Xhaka!
Sarcasm?
No, rather I’m just two weeks too late in the party, it would appear.
Just checking 🙂
Love you man.
Yes you are, and the reason you are is that within those two weeks Alexis has played two games up front. One against Hull in which he looked very good, and much better than his previous games there. And one against Chelsea in which he played even better.
Instantly re read and think maybe you weren’t being completely sincere… too late to delete… too much time reading all the wally o arsenal Facebook pages constantly complaining about everything. Sorry man.
Looks like we’re putting out our best team. Hopefully we make short work of them.
Interesting how even with the depth we have now that Wenger continues to not want to rotate (primarily in my opinion giving Elneny and Perez a chance). It’s a strong squad he has put out for sure, but have to also think long term making sure players are not overplayed and that others are getting enough matches to be able to contribute when called upon.
I agree, I’d like to see more rotation.
They’ll get their chance. It’s a long season.
I think the reasoning is to get this 11 really working well rather than killing their form. The season’s only just started so no real need to rest players just yet and with the international break coming we’ll be forced to rotate due to late arrivals and injuries anyway.
We have royally ballsed up Champions League matches before though… several times! Think we need continuity and momentum. Having said that I thought Gibbs looked good the other day so maybe he could have been included. And maybe Elneny. Hmm and Lucas. And when is the Jeff going to get a game!
Difficult match.. remember basel eliminating manu and livpool.. strongest team selected thou.. hope we win
Fortunately we don’t suck ass like them
Why is Giroud not even there on the bench?
He’s a)injured and b)banned. Otherwise, good point…
That would explain it
Red Card last game………….
My bad! I forgot he got a red card last game.
Do you follow Arsenal at all? like really? Giroud is suspended for this game and on top of that he is nursing an injury.
A bit harsh, don’t you think?
Schoolground bully
Ospina aside, that’s basically first team. Wonder if he wants to keep the fluidity of the team going as that lineup gels really well right now.
No more slip ups. Anhilate the weaker teams hope psg do an Arsenal (of last season) and qualify top nice and early!
Ospina in for cech.
This is just fucking ridiculous. Any other top teams playing their #2 by choice? Ospina is way off Cechs standard.
I seem to recall Ospina being pretty great against PSG, going a long way to earn us a point.
Did you watch the match against PSG, by any chance?
Yes. Other teams do do it, see Barcelona. Ospina is not as far off cech as you may think, proved it against PSG.
Fifa 17 ratings of ospina and cech shows the difference in quality. 😉
As his name is a giveaway – his opinion originates in the rectum
Hopefully both El neny and Lucas comes in the second half.. I’m particularly interested in getting to see Lucas do the ‘interesting gamble ‘
What the fuck is this away kit bullshit?! We’re playing at home you UEFA muppets.
You might want to read the reasoning before flying off the handle. Our home kit conflicts with both of their kits, and they don’t have a third kit. And we’ve worn our away kit at home in European competition before. It’s not a big deal.
When things are going well, some people still need something to complain about. “EVERYTHING IS SHIIITT”
I’m not complaining just didn’t understand the reasoning… And you know what, fuck off!
Yeah, fuck off!
I don’t think it’s down to uefa mate. They are just advertising a kit. Worst of all, we got to hear Micheal Owen before, half time and after the game! !! Bloody BT
Understand picking a strong team but personally would rear cazorla, still a great player but not sure his legs have 3 games in 7 days still in him, would let him recover and put Elneny in, maybe protect iwobi a bit too and play Perez or ox on the left
I dont think anyone is allowed to rear Cazorla
This is a fantastic line-up and I’m expecting great things from it. If anyone needs a rest we can rotate against Burnley on the weekend – this match is much more important.
Mark
He rotated the team last time and got slated, he never does anything right to some
Wanted to see elneny from the outset 🙁
This time last season, with the Coq and Ramsey injured, we’d have been fretting over Flamini or Arteta getting over run in midfield. Now we can sit back, relax and call up Xhaka or El neny. Oh squad depth, how sweet thou art!
Why not give Lucas Perez pkaytime, was He bought to come and sit on the bench?
He is far behind in terms of fitness level compared to the rest of the quad. I know some will mention mustafi but strickers are different. For now it’s EPL and FA cup for him. Remember the season is very very long. Plenty of games for him, there will be, because the force is stronger with this one.
The worst arsenal game is normally after a big win… Should be close, 2-1 to the arse
3-1
9-0
where’s your sense of optimism
At the moment the first spot is up for grabs in arsenal fc clge group surely arsenal will win.
Wow! Theoooo!
Theo has just been upgraded from man to beast.
I havent seen us play this great in a long while. This is just wonderful football. And theo is on fire. This his form before the tottenham injury with better defensive contribution.
You didn’t see the great chavs bashing then mate
Just cutting them open at will
Yep hats off to Theo..and he.s not even over celebrating. Keep it up!