It’s Champions League action tonight as we look for a win in Switzerland, while hoping Ludogorets can do us a favour in Paris.
Here are tonight’s official line-ups.
FC Basel: Vacilik, Traore, Balanta, Suchy, Lang, Steffen, Xhaka, Die, Elyounoussi, Delgado, Janko
Subs: Vailati, Gaber, Zuffi, Bjarnason, Hoegh, Calla, Doumbia
Arsenal: Ospina, Gabriel, Holding, Koscielny, Gibbs; Xhaka, Ramsey; Iwobi, Ozil, Perez; Sanchez.
Subs: Cech, Mustafi, Monreal, Elneny, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Giroud
Follow the game on the Arseblog live blog, real time live text commentary and complimentary Mr Kipling cakes*
*cakes not available in your country
Looking forward to see Lucas play with Ozil and Alexis. Is it the first time he’s starting with the two of them?
Nope, they must have started a coupla times in training.
lol
Elneny and jenko could’ve gotten a run out but I’m not complaining
No need to put kos,mesut and alexis on this game :/
Agreed! I wonder if there are any other player in top leagues who had more games in the last 2-3 months than Alexis…
Plus we had Giroud – eager to play anytime he can
Plus we have maybe the most important period of the season right ahead of us
Plus he is definitely our most important player recently
Plus it is questionable if there is any significant benefit of finishing at the top
Plus we have maybe 10% chance to finish above PSG
Take your point, but its still champions league and those are the games Ozil and Sanchez live for.
Interesting squad, on top of a positive result let’s pray for an injury free game for our key players such as Alexis, Ozil and Boscielny !! COYG
i actually love the way wenger’s been rotating the squad this season. statistically cantral midfielders and fullbacks are the players that covers the most distance in a match and are more prone to injury. wenger has been very careful to rotate his central midfielder and fullbacks in most match. also he is taking care of our players like ramsey walcot and ox who are prone to injury more often than the others so they always gets a rest at some point. i would’ve loved alexis and ozil to be rested at some point seeing as we are approaching important period… Read more »
Excited to see that attack, Xhaka-Ramsey at last, Perez starting wiht Alexis and Ozil.
COYG!
Not looking forward to Xhamsey in midfield. Will likely be a sham.
If you get Xhaka and Ramsey to click they’ll be a worldclass pairing. It’s worth trying in games like these.
You have an unhealthy dislike of Ramsey.
That’s one hell of a squad even without Santi.
Let’s see how Lucas Alexis turns out.
Lucas or Alexis up top? Figure it’ll rotate a fair amount during the game however they line up.
In the UEFA page its alexis up top, but he should rotate a lot with Lucas n Iwobi
Good lineup! I expect a discipline performance as neither Ramsey or Xhaka are quick and need to be smart in front of the back four. Perez should be able to show a little more of his skill set as he did not get any support last game so being on the wing and getting in on goal should work out well for him. The Iwobi Sanchez Ozil triangle should allow Perez to get in on goal with all the attention being in on them.
COYG!!!
Lucas setting ’em up for Alexis tonight then…
Aye, let’s hope so.
Or vice versa. Or both of them setting Ozil. There’s a lot of potential there!
Ouch poor Jenks not even making the bench. But finally some real 1st team action for Holding and Perez!
COYG !!
Giroud to come on in the 67th minute and score the game winner with his eyelashes. Alexis with the assist.
Time for Lucas to show his immense quality.
Fingers crossed bruh, finger crossed.
Seems the Ox has overtaken Iwobi, not bad but really Alexis could do with a break tonight,Thats why we have Giroud. And Lucas.
No cakes ?
YaYa would take blogs to the high courts!
Dont know why iam not happy seeing Ozil and Sanchez
Looks like an interesting line-up. Not getting my hopes up yet as some of the starters haven’t played too many matches together. Hoping for Lucas and Ramsey to have solid displays to build on, we need them if we are to challenge for a trophy this season.
Lucas should get some decent service this time around!
An experimental but very exciting line-up. Looking forward to it!
Quick question, does anyone happen to know if any of our players are within one yellow of a ban?
COYG…3 POINTS
DREAM line up…been waiting for ages to see Perez and Alexis start together with Ozil behind them…let’s hope it works out. Also a Ramsey – Xhaka pairing will be good to watch
I’m really disappointed to see Chamberlain benched for today. In my opinion he deserved to start today. Hope this doesn’t harm his positive development, because I really like to see him go 1 vs 1 in our games. Not many players try this lately.
I’m guessing this is more about making sure Iwobi and Lucas are allowed to stay involved and connected, as they could be needed here over this busy month, but Ox will be back starting again on Saturday. Stoke likely won’t be parking the bus, so I could see him having another successful game against those guys.
There are a couple of experiments going on here (Ramsey/Xhaka, Lucas/Sanchez), but these are experiments I’ve wanted to see for quite some quite. I hope they all work and we give the Fawlties a good thumping.
Also hoping for all PSG players to have a bad case of the trots starting about now.
*quite some WHILE
imagine facing a front four of ozil, alexis, lucas and iwobi. utter chaos.
Let’s hope we can get a good start and kill the game off early, so we can rest Kos and Sanchez quickly. Injury free night boys. COYG!
I hope Alexis is no where close to the red zone. He is playing many many games plus an high intensity style.
Hope we can bring him off soon because we are in a comfortable position in the game.
Nobody is talking about Holding.I think this guy has an enormous potential. Very cold and technical.
I cant believe the goal difference in our group A table arsenal fc clearly ahead and second due to minor madness win tonight team i see a few fresh legs playing in the team play well.
Oh, its so hard to hit like or dislikw
Bit surprise Elneny doesn’t get the nod. Would think he would want to do well against Basle. Less surprised there is no Jenko and that the more composed Gabriel is preferred but again you’d think if the option is to play HOlding at Cback, may be better to have Gabriel paired with Koscielny and have Jenko get one more go. I can only imagine he’s lost the complete confidence of Wenger which is understandable. Good to see Iwobi in the line up and Lucas. The Latter needs the games and can develop into something different for us both out wide… Read more »
Yes, we top the group. Let’s keep our fingers crossed for a favorable draw now.