In pictures: Lens v Arsenal
A blunder by David Raya helped Lens come from behind claim a famous 2-1 victory at the end of one of Arsenal’s worst trips ever in the Champions League. A careless pass fell short of Takehiro Tomiyasu and allowed Adrien Thomasson to equaliser before Elye Wahi wiped out Gabriel Jesus’ opener completely.
Travel chaos meant they did not reach their hotel till around midnight on the eve of the game and as well as throwing away three European points, they could now be without Bukayo Saka for the clash with Manchester City.
Despite picking up a knock late in the game against Bournemouth, Arteta decided to risk starting his star player from the start, only for him to limp off after just 34 minutes. Arsenal now face an anxious wait to see the England international can keep his run of 87 consecutive Premier League matches going with City due at the Emirates in just four days’ time.
They say there are no easy away trips in the Champions League these days but Arsenal seemed determined to make this a nightmare for themselves from the start. It was a 350-mile round trip to a team sitting one place above the relegation zone in the domestic table.
Geographically and statistically, that’s the equivalent of an away game for Man City at Luton – something of a dirty word around Arsenal right now. It was after all the Bedfordshire airport where the players had sat for over five hours on Monday to catch a flight to a destination that could have been a 90-minute train ride from the Emirates.
Fair play, they managed to take a brilliant early lead, albeit against a team currently struggling badly in the league after chasing PSG to the wire last season. However, Arsenal’s goalkeeper conundrum continues to haunt them as current preference Raya gave away the horror pass that led to Lens’ equaliser.
Worse still, the entire defence went missing in the second half when Elye Wahi pounced to steal all three points. Even so, most concerning of all perhaps is that Saka, who has been battling for fitness after a series of recent knocks, finally succumbed in the 34th minute and had to be replaced after collapsing to the ground.
He becomes an immediate doubt for the game against Manchester City back at the Emirates on Sunday – a match that could go such a long way to show if Arsenal really are ready to steal Pep Guardiola’s Premier League crown. Squeezing these Champions League fixtures into the domestic calendar is a fresh challenge for Arsenal after six seasons out of the competition.
However, Lens have been even bigger strangers to European football’s elite stage having last competed in 2002. Certainly it was a noisy return to the Stadium Bollaert-Delelis but a measure of the gulf in size between the clubs is the oft-quoted fact that the 38,223 capacity is some 7,000 more than the northern French industrial town’s official population.
Subsequently, the club’s annual budget for their spending this season has had to be set by their president at £102m, or slightly less than a Declan Rice. Without wanting to remind Arsenal of their storm-interrupted journey out here, they should not have made such heavy weather of it.
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An early Kevin Danso just wide was very much a signal of intent from the home side, but after just 14 minutes Saka pounced on a poor pass and put Gabriel Jesus through to arrow his 22nd goal in this competition inside the far post in only his 47th appearance.
Just as the Premier League side seemed to be establishing themselves, though, their goalkeeping dilemma again came back to haunt them. Raya was recently given the nod over England international Aaron Ramsdale for his better skills with the ball at his feet.
But the Spaniard’s 25th-minute pass to Takehiro Tomiyasu was short, Adrien Thomasson was fed in and, in all probability, neither Arsenal goalkeeper would have been able to keep the Lens winger’s sublime finish out of the net.
It was not long after this that Saka limped off. Still, Jesus and Saka’s replacement Leandro Trossard wasted good chances to put Arsenal back in front either side of half-time with Lens equally determined to push for all three points, with Adbul Samed hitting the side netting in the 64th minute after loose play by Arsenal.
Tomiyasu was unlucky that his perfect volley from Martin Odegaard’s corner hit Samba’s foot – certainly the Lens goalkeeper did not have time to move it. However, the Arsenal defence were simply too easily undone, Lens sweeping down the right and the unmarked Wahi finishing perfectly to make the misery complete.
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