Arsenal beat Brentford 1-0 to take the lead in the Premier League. With their place at the top of the league table secured, the focus is now on their Champions League dreams. The Gunners, who lead their Champions League group (Group B), can advance to the knockout stages with a win over Lens on Wednesday night.
The French side stunned Arsenal in the first leg, winning 2-1. Even with that victory, the Ligue 1 side is not full of confidence traveling to the Emirates.
They must recognize that their win over Arsenal was purely coincidental, as Frank Haise (Lens coach) now suggests that their game against Arsenal on Wednesday night could be their most difficult yet. He claims that the game against Arsenal will be a mountain to climb and that they will have to raise their level like they have never raised it before.
“The level that awaits us on Wednesday is that of a big mountain stage, a beyond-category climb,” said Lens coach Franck Haise after seeing his side beat Clermont 3-0 to climb to 6th in Ligue 1 after 13 games. “We will have to rise to that level. We have done it once. We will see if we are able to do it twice.”
Lightning does not strike twice, and Lens cannot rely on chance to secure a second victory over Arsenal. I can only imagine how demoralised they will be on Wednesday night if Arsenal are as strong as they are with Odegaard, White, and Jesus’ return from injury.
Darren N
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Arsenal have already qualified without even playing this game i predict a 5-0 win for arsenal, also this is a game where Raya will drop to the bench also for Ramsdale debut.Arsenal and PSV will advance to the knock out while Sevilla will drop to play europa league Lille will be back to ligue 1 to fight it out again.
Ramsdale
Ben White Saliba Gabriel Zinchenko
Odegaard Rice Havertz
Saka Jesus Martineli
Gabriel might drop also for Kiwior
Arsenal has not already qualified for the next round of the Champions League.
If Lens (not Lille) and PSV Eindhoven win their two remaining matches against Arsenal and Sevilla, both of them will qualify at Arsenal’s expense.
It is therefore imperative that Arsenal play their best possible team and win at home against Lens, thereby guaranteeing that they qualify and also win their group.
That way they can rest core players for the final away trip to Eindhoven and give some of the reserve players the opportunity to experience starting a Champions League match – a dream most footballers never get to experience. The more moments the whole team can share together, the better for group morale.
Lens will play like it’s the cup final so Arsenal need to bring their A game and start fast to dictate the pace. Odeguaard needs to step up and Jesus needs to practice being clinical again. They are all not 100% with their game and we are lucky we have good defensive players.
Lens must be demolished, we should have Elneny, Rice and Trossard in midfield.
We only need a draw to qualify but it’s better we win now then we can rest everyone in the last match which will come in a hectic period.