Arsene Wenger off the Hook After Strange Arsenal Selection in Champions League

Arsenal have faced their toughest fixture of the Champions League group stage and come away with a point. A draw away to Paris Saint-Germain is an excellent result that means the Gunners ought to be in a strong position to qualify from Group A. There ought to be a buoyant mood among the Arsenal fans. However, their performance at the Parc des Princes was nothing to celebrate. Arsenal were disappointing once again, and Arsene Wenger is rightfully coming under scrutiny for some bizarre selection decisions. 

Five games into their season, Arsenal have only really played well once. That was for a 45-minute spell away at Watford—for the most part they have looked disjointed and rudderless. At the weekend, they somehow scraped to a 2-1 win over Southampton. At full-time, it was difficult to believe the Gunners had snatched a victory from a match in which they had so dramatically underwhelmed. 

This draw with PSG has caused even more consternation. It’s difficult to understand how Arsenal managed to escape with a point after playing so poorly. 

The warning signs were there as soon as Wenger named his XI. The back four remained intact from the Southampton game, which seemed sensible. However, the rest of the side caused eyebrows to be raised in both north London and Paris. In goal, David Ospina was handed his first start of the season ahead of Petr Cech. That was a surprising move, especially since the same decision backfired horrendously a year ago when Ospina fumbled an own goal over the line against Olympiakos.

In midfield, Wenger continued with the pairing of Santi Cazorla and Francis Coquelin, leaving £35 million man Granit Xhaka on the bench. When Xhaka was left out against Southampton, it was assumed he was merely being saved for the bigger occasion. Instead, he remained in reserve. 

It’s strange Wenger would finally break his parsimonious habits to spend so heavily on a new midfielder, only to leave him on the bench for such an important game. Arsenal missed Xhaka dreadfully until he made his entrance with around 20 minutes to go. Without his intelligent passing at the base of the midfield, they simply could not keep control of the game.

Ahead of the two deep midfielders, it was astonishing to see Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain’s name in the starting line-up. Oxlade-Chamberlain looked utterly bereft of confidence against Southampton—his face when …

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