Many people took advantage of the free bet offer last night to bet on either Arsenal or Basel in the latest Champions League group stage match. Both teams had been on impressive form of late, with Arsenal recently beating their Premier League Rivals Chelsea at the weekend, and Basel winning 11 out of their last 12 games.
First High Calibre Match Up for Basel, Not So for Arsenal.
Although Basel have had some impressive wins in the Swiss League this season, they were held to a draw in their match against Ludogorets – arguably the first high profile game they have played so far. Many believed before the match that this would mean they would struggle to compete against the Gunners who have had high profile wins in the Premier League already this season, against high quality teams. Although many teams can ride the momentum, it seems this wasn’t meant to be last night, with Walcott dashing all hopes of a victory at the Emirates.
The First Half.
If Saturday’s match against Chelsea hadn’t convinced you that Walcott is at his best, the match against Basel should well have. Desire, skill, pace, Walcott showed it all. He linked play cleverly, he blocked carefully, and when chances came his way, he had the confidence and determination to take them. Scoring a header from a first time cross by Alexis, followed by an awesome second goal in which he had to perfectly time a pass, get into space, and receive the ball back before shooting, Walcott was on fire as he smoothly and determinedly got the Gunners 2-0 up. Further goal attempts happened before we reached the 45 minute mark, and although the Basel goalkeeper was clearly in the thick of it, he did pull out some great saves to stop the Gunners extending their lead.
The Second Half.
As many fans sat down ready for another exciting 45 minutes of football, the second half proved to be a lot quieter than the first. Although Arsenal didn’t need to come out on the offensive, a few chances presented themselves anyway. Alexis performed a good dispossession on Marek Suchy, and selflessly looked to feed the ball through to Ozil, but unfortunately it was intercepted by Xhaka, who went for goal and just missed with it landing wide of the post. Bjarnason, who famously helped to knock England out of the Euros this summer, also had an attempt on goal, but again the effort went to waste. All of this kept Arsenal on their toes. The Gunners had another good chance when Walcott crossed the ball to Alexis, but again, the shot was wide.
Towards the end of the match, substitutions were made with Gibbs, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Elneny all coming on. Although no more goals were scored, the three players helped to ensure that the Gunners victory was never going to be in doubt.
Where Do Things Stand Now?
With the final result being 2-0, the Gunners have now gone joint top of Group A alongside Paris Saint-Germain with 4 points each. Basel are currently in joint bottom with Ludogorets, each with 1 point. The future for Arsenal in Europe this year is looking bright. The bookies are currently offering pretty decent odds of Arsenal winning the League outright, so now could be the ideal time to place a bet on the team, if you haven’t done so already.
Two posts in one day? Rico it’s not Christmas yet 🙂
I’ll have 50p each way Rico. 🙂
🙂 Marshall, this one is just a money spinner… They’ll be another in a few hours… lol
I wouldn’t stretch to that much Adam…. 😉
Morning Rico
Morning All
Looks like Ramsey has suffered a classic Arsenal injury…..!
Originally out for 3 weeks, which has now turned into 3 months….
How can this type of thing keep on happening at a club as big as Arsenal..?
I mean it was a hamstring injury, a flipping hamstring, not a broken leg or an ACL…
Morning Kev, I reckon AW is just keeping him away from Wales…. lol
Bloody hell ,first this becomes an anti Welsh blog and then I look llike Joe Kinnear according to Wavy.
Actually Brian Ferry but with silver grey hair is nearer the mark 😉 Ask Rico she saw my band play many times.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/09/29/meet-the-other-wenger—arsenes-brother-reveals-the-arsenal-mana/
Never seen them Kelsey…. 😉
Wally Walcott and The Dribblers (you remember them,don’t you )
They weren’t around in my day …….
Sorry guys, new post is up now… 🙂
OK Rico, I am quite surprised as it was only a 2 hour tram ride from my place to get to the venue.
Now back to the Basel game I have a question.Basel have a player called Adama Traore and CSK have a player called Lacina Traore,both from The ivory Coast and we had a Armand Traore that is now at Forest but he was born in France.All are french speaking countries so either it is a commom name or they might be related.
Now as a unit I thought Basel defended a lot better than Chelsea and let’s face more by luck than judgement the Basel keeper kept out at least three goals with sprawling arms and legs like a spider.
It seems to be Theo Walcott week on many blogs and I will admit he had hadenough chances to improve himself and that we might get rid of what amounts to a huge wage earner for little return, last Summer.
Some say he has bulked up, others say he is tracking back more, some say he is better on the flanks in attack when in fact it’s Bellerin who is counter attacking more often or not and Theos’ goals have come from a more central position especially his header.
I still prefer to side with caution.I am delighted that we seemed to have moved up a gear but hearing today that Ramsey will be out for months with Welbeck,is it going to be injuries yet again that could be our downfall,I hope not.