Arsenal have fallen to a shock defeat against RC Lens, who pulled off a memorable night in their first Champions League home game for 20 years. Adrien Thomasson and Elye Wahi scored for the hosts, who came from behind to cancel out Gabriel Jesus’ well-taken opener. And as manager Mikel Arteta looks back at a painful night of action, Express Sport takes you through four key talking points…
Arteta can put theory to the test
After dropping Aaron Ramsdale to the bench last month, the Arsenal boss went out of his way to suggest that goalkeepers can be chopped and changed just like outfield players.
Ramsdale’s replacement, David Raya, had barely put a foot wrong ahead of Tuesday’s trip to France. But an overly-ambitious pass proved costly in the first half, giving the ball away before an acrobatic lay-off from Wahi allowed Thomasson to finish off a clinical move.
With Manchester City up next on Sunday, it remains to be seen whether Arteta responds to the error and tests his theory by dropping the man between the sticks.
Two players fail audition
The Gunners will need all the attacking talent they can muster when City come to north London this weekend – particularly with Gabriel Martinelli out injured and Bukayo Saka limping off against Lens in the first half.
In the jet-heeled duo’s absence, Arteta will call on Leandro Trossard to shoulder some of the attacking burden. But the Belgian was disappointing and largely ineffective in Arsenal’s latest Champions League encounter, which will hardly instil supporters with confidence ahead of their return to domestic action.
The same can be said of Fabio Vieira, who was brought on to replace Saka before remaining anonymous for the rest of the contest.
Chelsea shown what they’re missing
Wahi raised eyebrows by opting to sign for Lens this summer, with Chelsea rumoured to be interested in putting together a transfer proposal of their own. The 20-year-old has made a habit out of running defences ragged in Ligue 1, and he brought that to the European stage on Tuesday, with a superb performance against the Gunners.
Aside from his eye-catching assist to set up Thomasson, Wahi was a bright spark throughout the evening, and he finally got his reward just over 20 minutes from time, scoring what turned out to be the winner by sweeping past Raya.
Right-back dilemma
Arteta made a curious choice by plumping for Takehiro Tomiyasu at right-back against Lens. By the Arsenal manager’s own admission, the Japanese international is dynamite in defence, but his performances have left plenty to be desired going forward.
It was a similar story this time around as Tomiyasu was unable to exert any influence in the hosts’ final third. The selection call, against a team the Gunners should have been unafraid to put under the cosh, was even more curious given that Ben White started on the bench.
On reflection, Arteta may have been better off picking his more attacking right-back (White) against Tuesday’s opponents, and saving the defensive specialist (Tomiyasu) for the showdown with City.
