Pick your Arsenal team that can beat Basel tonight

Many may think that tonight’s game will be some easy feat given Arsenal’s recent run of form and the convincing 3-0 win against Chelsea at the weekend. But what if I was to tell you that Basel have not lost a Champions League game to English opposition since 2002!

Arsenal face off against Swiss side Basel on Match Day Two, in a fixture that’ll see Champions League football return to the home of Arsenal for yet another consecutive season. The match at the Emirates will see a former face off for two current Arsenal players, in Elneny and Xhaka, both whom have played for Basel in the past, whilst Granit will also play against his brother Taulant. The pair played against each other at the Euro’s this summer and so they won’t let family blood get in the way of their professionalism on the pitch, which is good for Arsenal given that Wednesday night is likely to be the first time Xhaka has managed to pull off a starting role in the squad.

Arsenal will have a slightly different team to put out in the Champions league, given the squad depth we can currently boast about, although the likes of Ramsey, Giroud and now Coquelin are all missing. It’s quite possible that both Xhaka and Elneny will get a chance to play against their former side and although it is expected Xhaka will play from the start, Elneny on the other hand may be given a bench role only.

Lucas Perez may get another opportunity up front like he did in the EFL CUP against Nottingham Forest, although Wenger may not want to move Alexis back out to the wing given he is now hitting the heights as a striker. With Alexis unlikely to be given a bench role, it may therefore be that Perez starts on the wing, giving a rest to either Walcott or Iwobi. The rest of the team will be anticipated as normal, although Ospina is likely to be put in goal over Cech for the clash, whilst Maitland-Niles may also be in store for a cameo role again at right back, after the youngster was included in Arsene Wenger’s squad.

As already stated, Basel have a good record when it comes to playing English opposition in the Champions League and so if Arsenal want to break the record that has been held since 2002, then the Gunners will have to pull off something special. Luckily for Arsenal, I think that on our current form and ability, we are more than capable of grabbing all three points as most would expect. It’s also vital we pick up a win on match day two given that we drew in France to PSG.

Who doyou think will play tonight?

Come On You Gunners!

By AH

15 Comments

  1. Wenger might rest some players we might not anticipate, like Bellerin in favor of Debuchy and/or Monreal for Gibbs. For one; they deserve their chance too AND we might consider resting our top men in the back for EPL. At least I would do that. Also OX for Walcott might not be a bad idea. Keep the top dogs on the bench in case something goes terribly bad, although I doubt it.

    Otherwise I can see why you would chose this lineup. Its the best we currently have.

  2. The team that ended first half against Chelsea except Cech which place should be taken by Ospina. Note that Xhaka was there in place of Le Coq who got injured.
    Then Perez should come in in second half after we are 3-0 up and make it 5-0.

    1. Hahaha ? You obviously don’t know our opponents that well.
      Basel have an excellent record away to English clubs. They have beaten Chelsea, Utd and Liverpool in the champions league and the Spuds in the Europooh league.
      They are No Mugs, thats for sure.

  3. ospina

    belerrini mustaffi kolscieny Gibbs

    cazorla xhaka

    Walcott ozil Iwobi

    Alexis

    you don’t change a winning team unless proved otherwise……get well coquelin

    1. This line up is exactly the one we need. We can rotate people against Burnley. Against Basel, I would be prepared to bring Elneny on relatively early for Santi, even with a 1 or 2 goal lead. He is the most likely to fade out. Maybe Gibbs for Monreal as well. Other than Kos, bringing in subs for our older players makes sense. In the long run, we will want to give Kos an occasional day off and play Holding with Mustafa, but for now developing the lead pair of CBs understanding of each other’s games is more important.

  4. Ospina to replace Cech and Xhaka to replace coquelin,while everyone retains their spot.
    we havent topped our group yet so we cant gamble too much…..

  5. This ain’t gonna be no walk in the park…Plus we have Burnley on Sunday, who look like they’re up for a scrap…Tough call. But I hope AW gets it right.

  6. All we need to do is field a team that can win on the night. I know its against Basel, but its an opportunity to rest some players to avoid injuries. I’ll start Gabriel ahead of Koscielny. The guy is 31, played all games this season and indispensable for France. We need him as fresh as possible. Basel as home should not be a defensive priority but attacking one as we need to win. So Ospina Bellerin Mustafi Gabriel Montreal looks solid. But the attack and midfield should remain the same.

    1. NO! Give Kos his day off against Burnley if he really needs one. Holding and Mustafi should be fine.

      Basel line up
      ooooooooooospina!
      Ballerin Mustafi Kos Monreal
      Xhaka Santi
      Theo Ozil Iwobi
      Alexis

      Burnley line up
      Cech
      Ballerina Mustafi Holding Monreal
      Xhaka Elneny
      Theo Ozil Perez
      Sanchez
      with the possibility of putting Perez up top or Sanchez on the wing.

      I really hope that now that we have some depth in our squad that Arsene uses it sooner rather than later, and only changes 1-3 outfield players from one game to the next, EFL cup excepted.

  7. Basel have beaten United even with Ferguson, beaten Chelsea, drawn with Liverpool and Spurs and some people are thinking of ‘resting players’ like Bellerin for Debuchy, Cazorla for Elneny like it’s an FAcup game?

    Ospina and Xhaka only should be the changes to the XI for obvious reasons.

  8. ………………..Ospina
    Bellerin..Mustafi..Koscielny..Mon/Gib
    ……………Elneny..Xhaka
    Perez/Ox………Ozil…………Iwobi
    ………………..Alexis

  9. ———————— Ospina
    Bellerin —- Mustafi — Koscielny — Monreal
    —————- Xhaka —— Elneny
    — Walcott ———- Ozil ——– Sanchez
    ———————— Perez

  10. these are the exact kind of matches where one would hate to be the manager… not a world class opponent so you would be tempted to rest your stars… but a giant killing team indeed, so rest your players and there is every chance that wou would lose and ppl would comment i said so…

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