Chelsea High To Basel Preview

     So Big Sam ends his short stint as england manager with an egg in the face that gives Arsene another reason to laugh as he dropped a clanger after being caught on video making unsavory and damning comments by a Telegraph Journalist working undercover. You'd expect some of us would have learnt to keep our opinions off the record so to speak cuz you don’t know when Big brother might be watching…yeah I know. If Cops don’t learn not to get caught on video shooting indiscriminately or accepting twenty naira, then who will? How sad though, only one game at the helm of one of the best paying jobs in the world right now and you have to step down cuz you couldn’t keep those implicating opinions about ya predecessor or employers to yourself…sorry mate.

Anyway good riddance, he was never going to be "The Solution" to England's footballing Woes,  now to Arsenal tins jaaare. As a big fan of DC & Marvel Universe, it’s only natural that one enjoys watching Batman, The Justice league and all their spin offs. That’s the inspiration for the picture below, one fight scene that I enjoy so much however brief  is  "Bane Vs Mammoth" (Still enjoy it). Now that’s what the win against Chelsea reminded me off. That super duper soccer punch you didnt see coming, Arsenal came with a game plan and stuck with it for 90+ mins, Chelsea never had a chance.!!

Young Justice:  Bane Vs Mammoth courtesy Warner Bros Animation

     By now I expect you must have relived all the moments taking it all in, enjoying that last drop of satisfaction gotten from thrashing Costa and Friends from Chelsea FC. Costa is probably still in Koscielny's Pocket crying somewhere. Guys lets face it, this hasn’t happened in a long long time, sure we beat both Manchester Clubs last season at one time or the other, but not Chelsea, even at their worst nadir……they still managed to do a double over Arsenal yet again, it was all too painfully familiar.  Ok, ok, oooakaaayyy,  enough already with the Chelsea win, even if we would love to continue milking every bit of pleasure that’ win gives, there is no time for that, same 3 points as any other  win so why the plenty OMG (rolling eyes here). I am not trying to trivialize by brushing aside this win like it means nothing, far from it, it means a whole lot for the Team. It was as a well wrapped 20^th Anniversary Gift to Arsene Wenger, confidence booster, a wonderful feeling of pleasure and the continuation of the momentum we building, whats not to like there? Still.....this is football where there is no room for getting ahead of ourselves despite the performance, like we have been there before, Arsenal build ya hopes only to send them crashing so lets stay focused by keeping our feet firmly planted on the ground. The result was good but the performance in general was what caught the eye, everyone is gushing about Sanchez/Özil but Walcott must be on something beastly extraordinary or how do you explain his transformation in the last 3-4 games. His goals, assists & especially his work rate and hustle to get stuck in, i mean he's already made more tackles in 6 games than he had made in the past two seasons!! Can you beat that?? Arsene commented on his new work ethic:

“He has improved, he showed that on Saturday [against Chelsea].

He knows when you play on the flank, you have to add that job to your game,

because today all the full-backs who go forward are dangerous.

 Despite that he wanted to compete on the flank,

 and as long as he produces these kind of performances, I’m OK with it.”

Encouraging words that will bode well for Walcott, hope Oxlade is listening too.

Keeping our feet on the ground means taking it one game at a time, so time to switch focus to the Champions League as we welcome FC Basel to town in a match Day2 game . I expect the players to know this is a must win game (no offence to Basel) to boost our chances of topping the group. We have to win all our home games, so let us start by winning FC Basel on Wednesday. On paper, an Arsenal win is very much expected but we all know how in football, anything can happen.  Add the fact that Arsenal’s consistency is being inconsistent….again anything can happen. Having said all that, I expect the players to guard against any form of complacency and remain focused in order to the job done. Another 3 points will do nicely, as PSG would most likely beat Ludogorets FC barring any unexpected miracles, so we need to win this. I don’t expect Basel to be push overs, they currently top the Swiss Super League by 14 points above their nearest rival, marching their way to an 8th consecutive title which is nothing to scuff at, but i expect our fire power should be too much for them hopefully.  Coquelin’s Injury (Out for 3-4 weeks) being the only blip on a perfect Saturday, means we Arsene has to start one or both Xchaka &/Or  Elneny  in the middle just behind Özil, I would give Santi a rest maybe Sanchez too, he needs it.  Besides Ospina back in, the defense picks itself as the same while i'll give Perez a start as the arrow head in attack, no Sanchez through the middle for me. While I don know which Arsenal will turn up my line up will look like. 
Bellz, Mustafi, Kos, Nacho, Xhaka, Elneny, Özil, Walcott, Perez, Sanchez/Iwobi, a 4-2.3-1 formation:

Subs: Gibbs, Santi, Adelaide,Oxlade, Iwobi.

The flipside of the Chelsea win is that million dollar Pound question. Is Arsenal now a True Title contender or is this another flash in the Pan? We have seen this before(Man U win last year), so its up to this crop of mature Men as Wenger calls them, to show that they are ready to challenge for Silverware regardless of the pressure that comes with it. For now though, lets enjoy this and hope its another win against FC Basel on Wednesday, enjoy the game wherever you are........Ciao