As Arsenal look to book their place into the 17th successive Champions League, there is just one more hurdle in front of them. Besiktas are in no mood to let the English side progress without a tough fight and their manager Slaven Bilic has already made it clear.
WengerIn the first leg in Turkey Arsenal failed to seal the deal as Besiktas held them to a draw. In fact there were moments when the minnows looked better and former Chelsea player Demba Ba came near to scoring on a couple of occasions. To make things worse, Aaron Ramsey got a red card and he would not be able to take part in this match. But this leg is not being played in Turkey, which is famous for crowd hostility at times, but rather at The Emirates where the team would want the fans to get behind them.
The main thing that Arsene Wenger would have to worry about is injuries and fatigue. Last week it was evident that his team was still now in the best of shapes after two late goals from Ramsey and Giroud managed to neutralise two early goals from Everton. But to Wenger’s agony, both Giroud and Ramsey are not being able to play this tie, one out with suspension while the French striker out with a long term injury.
In Giroud’s absence Alexis Sanchez would be expected to lead the attack, but in the last match he was caught out of position far too often, once again highlighting the need for Wenger to buy a striker before the window closes. This demands Wenger to put Sanchez in the midfield where he is known to excel.
Even skipper Mikel Arteta is not available for this match as he is suffering from an ankle injury. Two other crucial members of the squad, Gibbs and Theo Walcott are sidelined with hamstring and knee problems respectively. This will test Arsenal’s squad depth, which they tried to mend this season and this match will give us a clear idea as to how Wenger stands with his squad as they would look to face the grueling schedule.
Besiktas are no lightweight team on their own terms. The first leg must have given them confidence which they can capitalise on and they have known to come down to England earlier to defeat teams like Manchester United and Chelsea. While the English Premier League is in full throttle and Arsenal already being made to play some tough matches in very less time, the Turkish league is yet to start and the Besiktas players are relatively fresh.
Possible lineups
Arsenal: Szczęsny, Debuchy, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal, Santi Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Sánchez, Wilshere, Özil, Sanago.
• Out: Mikel Arteta (ankle), Aaron Ramsey (suspended), Olivier Giroud (ankle), Kieran Gibbs (hamstring), Theo Walcott (knee)
Beşiktaş: Tolga Zengin; İsmail Köybaşı, Franco, Ersan Gülüm, Ramon Motta, Oğuzhan Özyakup, Veli Kavlak, Mustafa Pektemek, Hutchinson, Olcay Şahan, Ba.
• Out: none
Predictions:
This will be a tough fight and Arsenal would be made to earn their place in Europe, but we still believe that the firepower of the London side and Arsene Wenger’s dynamics would prove to be too much for Besiktas to handle. Our prediction is Arsenal 1:0 Besiktas.