Arsenal will travel to France to face Lens in the Champions League brimming with confidence. The hosts earned their first point of the campaign in week one with a 1-1 draw against Sevilla. The visitors delivered a strong message with a 4-0 victory against PSV Eindhoven at the Emirates Stadium.
Preview (Lens vs. Arsenal)
Being promoted from Ligue 2 to narrowly missing out on the top-flight league title last season has been an incredible journey for Lens over the last three years. In their first Champions League match against Sevilla a few weeks ago, the Blood and Gold rallied from a goal down inside the opening ten minutes to earn a well-earned point. That outcome may have been a turning moment for Franck Haise. His team had lost its first five league games. They had only managed one point during that span—a 1-1 draw against Rennes.
The hosts have won back-to-back Ligue 1 games since their journey to Spain. They beat Toulouse 2-1 here and Strasbourg 1-0 away from home last weekend. It lifted them out of the relegation zone after seven league games. The loss of a few key players, including Lois Openda and Seko Fofana, may have contributed to Lens’ early-season struggles, but now that their replacements are settling in, Haise and company will be looking to continue their upward trend. A win here would be a much-needed confidence booster before a very busy stretch.
After a six-year absence, Arsenal returned to the Champions League, and they celebrated by thrashing a PSV team that had not lost a single point in the Eredivisie all season with four goals in a masterful display. In the first 10 minutes of the game, Bukayo Saka gave the Gunners the lead. Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus both scored for the Gunners, who went into halftime with a three-goal lead. In the second half, Martin Odegaard scored a fourth goal to put his team out of reach of their opponents. It makes Mikel Arteta’s debut game as manager in Europe’s top club competition even better.
Team News
Due to Massadio Haidara’s thigh injury, he hasn’t played for Lens since their game against Sevilla. Deiver Machado will likely keep playing wingback for the foreseeable future. David Costa (shoulder), Jimmy Cabot (ACL), and Wuilker Farinez (ACL) have all been sidelined with injuries. None of them are anticipated to make a comeback for at least a few more weeks. Elye Wahi, a high-profile acquisition, scored his long-awaited debut goal for his new team over the weekend and is expected to stay in attack with Angelo Fulgini and Florian Sotoca providing support.
Jurrien Timber, who had a promising beginning to life in London, has a knee injury that will keep him out till the new year. Ben White, who scored the winning goal against The Cherries last weekend, is Arteta’s ready-made substitute. In contrast, Saka limped off in the second half of last weekend’s game with what Arteta described as a “pretty bad knock”. Although Lens has made progress in recent weeks, they now face an entirely different kind of foe in Arsenal, who are currently on fire. Although we anticipate another strong performance from the hosts, we are siding with the guests to win this game.
Lens 1 – 2 Arsenal
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