Arsenal will look to clinch their place in the last 16 of the Champions League when they welcome Lens to the Emirates on Wednesday night.
Mikel Arteta’s men stretched their lead at the top of Group B to four points with a comfortable 2-0 win over Sevilla on matchday four. The Gunners will also go into this game occupying top spot in the Premier League table after battling to a 1-0 win at Brentford on Saturday.
Meanwhile, third-placed Lens’ hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the Champions League were dealt a blow when losing 1-0 at PSV earlier this month.
Arsenal picked up three points with relative ease in each of their previous two Group B home games in this season’s Champions League and another routine win seems likely when they take on Lens on Wednesday night. The Gunners should be fully motivated here given that a win would not only secure qualification, but it would also guarantee first spot in the group.
Mikel Arteta will also be mindful of the fact that a win on Wednesday night would afford him the luxury of rotating his resources against PSV on Matchday 6, which will provide added incentive given that the notoriously frantic festive period is looming.
However, Lens proved that they're no pushovers when they defeated Arsenal 2-1 in the reverse fixture so they should be more than capable of holding their own in North London. While Arsenal may face some resistance from their French guests, the hosts’ superior class should ultimately tell and they should earn another efficient win in front of an expectant Emirates crowd.
How are both teams expected to line up on Wednesday? Here are the predicted lineups from WhoScored.com with all the relevant team news.
Arsenal Predicted Lineup vs Lens
Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Odegaard, Rice, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli
Lens Predicted Lineup vs Arsenal
Samba; Gradit, Danso, Medina; Aguilar, Mendy, Samed, Frankowski; Thomasson, Sotoca; Wahi