Arsenal vs Basel Preview, Team News, Line-Ups, Betting Tips & Predicted Score

Arsenal will look to build on their opening draw at PSG when they take on Basel at the Emirates in the group stages of the Champions League this evening.

We were well below our best during the opening game in France two weeks ago but managed to stay in the match and grab what could be a vital point thanks to a late Alexis Sanchez equaliser.

Since the game against PSG we’ve wrapped-up three consecutive victories over Hull City, Nottingham Forest and Chelsea – scoring eleven goals in the process – so we head into tonight’s game in excellent form.

The victory over Chelsea was particularly impressive as the first forty-five minutes were arguably the best I’ve seen from an Arsenal side in years so hopefully that’s a sign of things to come this season.

Basel arrive in London unbeaten in their last six games in all competitions but were held to a 1-1 draw by Ludogorets in their opening Group A fixture so the Swiss champions will be hoping to secure a positive result this evening.

Team news

Francis Coquelin will miss the game after being ruled out for three weeks with a knee injury that he sustained at the weekend so Granit Xhaka is expected to come in to the midfield and face-off against brother Taulant.

David Ospina is set for a recall in goal as Arsene Wenger has suggested he’ll be our first choice in the group stages of the Champions League and the Colombian will be looking to put in another eye-catching performance after being our MOTM against PSG.

Olivier Giroud is still nursing a toe injury but the striker would have missed the game through suspension anyway after being sent off late on at PSG while Aaron Ramsey, Danny Welbeck, Gabriel Paulista and Per Mertesacker remain sidelined with injury.

Basel on the other hand will be without defender Manuel Akanji and midfielder Kevin Bua due to injury concerns.

Likely Line-Ups

Basel: Vaclík; Lang, Suchý, Balanta, Traoré; Xhaka, Zuffi; Bjarnason, Delgado, Steffen; Šporar.

Predicted Score

Arsenal 2-0 Basel: Basel have plenty of European experience and can be a dangerous side on their day but we should have more than enough quality to secure a relatively comfortable win tonight. If we play anything like we did against Chelsea on Saturday we’ll have this wrapped-up by half-time. I’m going for a 2-0 win.

Betting Tips

Arsenal are the 3/10 favourites to win the game but if you want a bit more value then we would go for Arsenal to be winning at half time and full time at 17/20. We also like the look of the Gunners to win 2-0 at 6/1 and if you add Walcott as first scorer the odds increase to 22/1. If you do fancy a flutter on the game, remember to use promotions such as a comeon voucher code to take advantage of welcome bonuses and make your money go further. Arsenal look like a solid bet tonight so it’s certainly worth jumping on board and backing the north Londoners to pick up all three points.