Arsenal face Basel in the Champions League tonight, and it is a game they would do very well to take seriously.
The Gunners must avoid becoming complacent after their win over Chelsea at the weekend. There’s no doubt that Arsene Wenger’s men played well, but Chelsea’s awful performance cannot be overstated. Antonio Conte’s men were appalling from the first minute to the last and were unable to put up even the remotest of fights against Arsenal.
Arsene Wenger’s sides constantly put themselves in a hole in the Champions League with complacent performances against smaller teams, and tonight would be an absolutely textbook Arsenal game to drop points in.
Often these issues are caused by Wenger himself, who has too much faith in his reserve players to do the job in tough away matches in Europe. There was shock around Europe when Wenger named David Ospina in goal in Arsenal’s first Champions League game of the season against PSG. That decision was ultimately vindicated as the goalkeeper put in an excellent performance, but the rest of the team were poor and Arsenal are lucky to have a point going into the game in Switzerland.
Basel have an excellent record against English clubs, and have caused Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United huge problems in recent years. If Arsenal go into this game with anything less than 100% concentration and a full-strength lineup, they risk dropping two points, and could very easily lose the game.