Basel Bossed as Burnley Beckons!

  Well…….that was easy. No I mean, that’s went easier than expected. I mean the gunners practically blew away the Swiss champions, turning them into Swiss cheese in a less than 30 minutes blitz. From the blast of the whistle we were dominant for most parts till Walcott got the brace that pretty much ended what we feared might be contest. Basel came to the emirates with a fine record of no loss to an English side in 5 UCL games. My only gripe is our wastefulness in front of goal, Ozil missing two good chances and Sanchez being a bit unusually casual at the last.  Now to Walcott, I asked before what exactly he was on cuz he showed here again the willingness to chase everything, his movement on and off the ball was full of intelligent running into space while putting in some good diagonals that no one connected to. When Arsenal play like this, free of any mental shackles....they are quite difficult to stop. Kos, Mustafi were practically on holiday only doing occasional mop ups to recycle play forward. Ospina, well he saved when he was called to action by a Bjarnason dipping shot.

   I talked about seeming wastefulness up front, sometimes we take our foot of the pedal and ease off. I hope this is dealt with, that’s how complacency sets in besides, its always good to score as many goals as the opportunity allows and not dawdle like u showing mercy. Be that as it may, we must give credit to the boiz. they bossed the game from midfield, Santi was at the heart of it all linking well with Iwobi and Ozil especially the pass to Sanchez that was the “pre assist”.  As for Ozil, he spurned one or two chances but he is getting into good positions, he needs to imbibe that killer instinct for him to become the player he has the true potential to become. Alexis had one of those games where he got everything but score, frustratingly denied a couple gilt edge chances by FC Basel Vaclik whom Basel would do well to give a healthy bonus for his heroics that ensured a respectable score line. I am sure Marek Suchy has aches on his aches after his torrid time trying helplessly to keep the Chilean quiet. All in all, another good day at the office, 3 points, 2 goals and 3^rd consecutive clean sheet not forgetting better depth in the squad...signs of an Arsenal in Crisis init?

  Next Stop is an away match at Turf moor, Sean Dyche’s men have had something of a yoyo season thus far, beating Liverpool on Match Day2 followed by 2 losses and a draw then a Stephen Defour inspired win on Monday against Watford......Yep same Watford that trounced Man United just last week. They should be buoyed by that win but I am sure the way Arsenal seem to be cruising won’t have gone unnoticed by them, so expect them to have a game plan prepared. Arsenal hasn’t lost to Burnley in over 3 decades and I hope they don’t start now. As another international break looms after match Day6, it would be nice to extend our match winning streek to 5 on the bounce and keep the momentum going into the break. Arsene summed it up in these words:

“In recent games we have combined style and efficiency and we want to continue that because we want to give pleasure to the fans,” Wenger said. “We know that comes with results but as well with the quality of the game and in our recent games against Chelsea and against Basel, we managed to do both.”

My predicted lineup for both teams  below (Courtesy the UK Guardian Online)

subs: Ospina, Debuchy, Chuba, JR Adelaide, Gibbs, Perez, Alex Ox, Giroud,

While i humbly remain unconvinced by Sanchez through the middle, 4 goals in 5 premiership games is  quite difficult to argue against, besides, its tough to change Arsene Wenger when he has his mind set on a certain task as he seems to have done here. I also believe Elneny deserves a start while Santi should get a rest, Wenger is the coach though and he would likely do the opposite, thus my term Predicted lineup. Whatever TEAM files out for the gunners, i would hope for another 3 points, keep the winning streak going and put the pressure on Man City who have a tricky date at Spurs especially without De Bruyne, someone needs to remind Master Pep that this is the premiership, no coasting to the title allowed....LOL. Anyway those are ma thoughts from here, dont forget to critique /Like/Commen and share our post. Do enjoy the game wherever you are....Ciao