Key events
9 min A slower game suits Lens, certainly at this stage, and they calm things down by keeping the ball for the best part of a minute.
7 min Zinchenko moves infield and floats a very deep cross towards Jesus. He tries to cushion a volley back across goal but slices it behind for a goalkick. Arsenal’s tempo has been so last season.
5 min Loads of early possession for Arsenal, though it’s all been in front of the Lens defence.
4 min There’s an excellent atmosphere at the Emirates, which is one of the reasons Arsenal have become so hard to beat here in the last couple of years. I think they’ve had only three defeats in the last 36; something like that.
2 min Meanwhile, here’s Will Unwin’s report on a bonkers game in Turkey.
1 min Peep peep! Arsenal, specifically Gabriel Jesus, kick off from left to right as we watch.
The players line up for the usual pre-match formalities, a few of them shivering quietly. It looks an, a-hem, slightly brisk night in north London.
That PSV result does put a bit of pressure on Arsenal, though it puts far more on Lens. If they lose tonight, they’re out. Arsenal have two chances.
Full time: Sevilla 2-3 PSV
This is how Group B looks after that mighty victory for PSV Eindhoven, who were 2-0 down when Sevilla’s Lucas Ocampos was sent off in the 66th minute.
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Arsenal P4 Pts9
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PSV P5 Pts8
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Lens P4 Pts5
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Sevilla P5 Pts 2
Arsenal will qualify with a draw and win the group if they beat Lens, who themselves need at least a draw because of their inferior head-to-head record against PSV Eindhoven. Sevilla can only make the Europa League if Lens lose tonight. Confused? Splendid, now all I need are the three digits on the back of the card.
GOAL! Sevilla 2-3 PSV (Pepi 90+2)
My word, PSV – who were 2-0 down after an hour – are going to win in Seville. The American Ricardo Pepi has completed a spectacular comeback, which means Arsenal need a draw tonight to ensure qualification – and avoid a potentially hairy trip to Eindhoven in a fortnight.
GOAL! Sevilla 2-2 PSV (Vertessen 81) An own goal from Nemanja Gudelj has brought PSV Eindhoven level in Seville. That’s a big goal for them and a mildly inconvient one for Arsenal, who won’t officially qualify before kick-off if it stays like this.
GOAL! Sevilla 2-1 PSV (Saibari 68) PSV have pulled one back in Seville – and the home side are down to 10 men.
Meanwhile, Galatasaray v Man Utd has turned into a basketball match.
The new pragmatism
GOAL! Sevilla 2-0 PSV (En-Nesyri 47) Youssef En-Nesyri has doubled Sevilla’s lead, and it looks like Arsenal will go through to the last 16 before kicking a ball.
Team news: Havertz starts
Mikel Arteta makes a couple of changes from the win at Brentford on Saturday. Kai Havertz, who came off the bench to score the winner, replaces Leandro Trossard in midfield, and David Raya returns in goal. He was ineligible on Saturday.
Lens, who beat Clerment Foot 3-0 on Saturday, bring in Kevin Danso, Przemyslaw Frankowski, Nampalys Mendy and Florian Sotoca for Abdukodir Khusanov, Ruben Aguilar, Neil El Aynaoui and Adrien Thomasson.
Arsenal (4-1-2-3) Raya; Tomiyasu, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko; Rice; Odegaard, Havertz; Saka, Jesus, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Ramsdale, Hein, White, Nketiah, Kiwior, Cedric, Trossard, Jorginho, Nelson, Elneny, Lewis-Skelly, Nwaneri.
Lens (3-4-2-1) Samba; Gradit, Danso, Medina; Frankowski, N Mendy, Abdul Samed, Haidara; Sotoca, Fulgini; Wahl.
Substitutes: Leca, Pandor, Aguilar, Machado, Pereira Da Costa, Diouf, Maouassa, Said, El Aynaoui, Khusanov, Thomassoi.
Referee Artur Dias (Portugal).
Preamble
Good evening. Like hope and the humble mullet, progress comes in many forms. On this day three years ago, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to Wolverhampton Wanderers. The game is remembered for Raul Jimenez suffering a fractured skull, a shocking incident that almost killed him. It was also Arsenal’s fifth defeat in 10 Premier League games, a run they soon extended to eight in 14. At Christmas they were 15th, and many people expected Arteta’s stocking to contain a P45.
Three years on, Arteta’s Arsenal are again being criticised – but this time it’s polite, qualified criticism about a team who are top of both the Premier League and their Champions League group. You don’t need a degree in xG to know that Arsenal haven’t been as dynamic or exhilarating as they were in the first half of last season, yet that may well be a positive.
If Arsenal get anywhere near their attacking play of 2022-23 while retaining the £105m worth of solidity they added in the summer – and there’s no tactical reason why they can’t – their 20-year wait for one of the two big prizes may come to an end.
Arsenal play Lens at the Emirates tonight knowing that a win would ensure qualification and top spot, which almost certainly means a kinder draw in the last 16. They could qualify before kick off, depending on the result in the early game between Sevilla and PSV. As things stand, with Sevilla 1-0 up through Sergio Ramos, Arsenal are in the last 16.
They’ll want to win regardless, especially as they owe Lens one after a 2-1 defeat in the return fixture. All things being equal, it’ll be a comfortable night for Arsenal. And even if it isn’t, they will enter December in infinitely better shape than they did three years ago.
Kick off 8pm.