Arsenal will look to make it two wins in two games when they take on French Ligue 1 side Lens in the Champions League on Tuesday at the State Bollaert-Delelis in France.
The Gunners were 4-0 victors over PSV Eindhoven two weeks ago, in what was their first Champions League match since 2017. Lens on the same day played out a 1-all draw against Sevilla in Seville, Spain.
It has been an incredible journey for Lens over the last three years, rising from Ligue 2 to missing out on a top-flight league title by a small margin last season, to now returning to Europe’s most elite club competition after a 21-year wait.
Since their trip to Spain, Lens have won back-to-back Ligue 1 matches, beating Toulouse 2-1 at this venue and overcoming Strasbourg 1-0 on the road last weekend, which took them out of the relegation zone after seven league games.
Arsenal on the other hand drew 2-2 against Tottenham Hotspur before beating Brentford 1-0 in midweek and Bournemouth 4-0 over the weekend in a match where Kai Havertz scored his first Arsenal goal.
Lens, who have been struggling in their local league face an uphill task against Mikel Arteta’s team, who are unbeaten in nine matches this season and who sit third in the Premier League table, one point off the top.
Arsenal’s away form has also been incredible this term. They have won all four matches on the road while keeping a clean sheet so Lens’ strikers have to work extra hard to beat the Arsenal defence that is manned by William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhaes, Jakob Kiwior among others.
Team news
Massadio Haidara has not featured for Lens since their match against Sevilla due to a thigh injury. He is a huge doubt for this match. David Costa (shoulder), Jimmy Cabot (ACL), and Wuilker Farinez (ACL) are also out injured.
For Arsenal, Thomas Partey (groin) and long-term absentee Jurrien Timber (knee) are out. Gabriel Martinelli, who has been out for about three weeks could return for this one. Another doubt is Bukayo Saka, who limped off in the Gunner’s win against Bournemouth.
Sevilla make the trip to the Netherlands to play PSV Eindhoven in the other game in this group.
